The Runner
by operaghost96
Summary: No matter how far you run, there are some demons you just can't escape. Take it from me. My own demons chased me all the way to Japan from New Jersey. And this is not a story of redemption, or of love. It's a story of descent into hell. Kind-of companion to Demon Training by Demon-Princess-Astarte but can be read on its own.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Well, here's my new Blue Exorcist OC story, **_**the Runner**_**. It has a lot in common with the Ghost Rider comics. Sorry. It's kind of a companion to Demon-Princess-Astarte's story **_**Demon Training**_**, but can be read on its own, especially the first few chapters. I don't own Ao No Exorcist, only Cassie.**

Let me tell you something right now. If you're looking for a happy story about someone with solid morals that falls head over heels and lives happily ever after with her love, well, try the next story down. This is anything but. No, this isn't that story. This is the story of a half-demon whose 'other side' is always haunting her, trying to take over. It's the story of a girl who's been running for two years, all the way to Japan, to keep herself from killing. It's my story.

My name's Cassandra Martin. Nice to meet you, I guess.

This story starts about two years ago, when I was sixteen, in Camden, New Jersey. For those of you who don't know, it's one of the nastiest, most crime-filled cities in the good ol' U. S. of A. Everyone around here, especially in the bad part, knows—or is—a gangster, hooker, or druggie. Or a combination of the three. It's my hometown, where I grew up. Pleasant, I know.

Anyway, that day, I was heading home from school, pepper spray safe in my pocket, because let's face it—unless you wanna end up raped, dead, or both, you didn't walk around without it. And believe me, after it slipping my mind twice, that stuff is never leaving my reach. Whenever I got home, for once my mom was waiting for me.

Kristin Martin was a tall, curvy woman, with tan skin, curly blond hair that fell to her waist, and eyes the color of a clear summer sky. In other words, the only thing I physically had in common with her was my height.

"Cassie, you're going to have to come with me to work again," she said, grabbing a light jacket for the early spring weather. "We're short tonight."

I groaned. I hated going there, with all the leers from drunken truckers and bikers, on top of the mocking of my schoolmates. "Fine. Whatever." This was actually common. I'd 'volunteer' where my mom worked if and when they were short as a waitress.

XXXXXX

"Hey, Cass. Glad you could make it," greeted a scantily-clad bartender in her forties.

"Hi, May." I've known May all my life. My mom and her worked together here since I was in diapers and thought that they were ballet dancers. Of course, with time passing, May was relegated to bartender duty, too old to 'dance' but not old enough to fire.

"You know, hun, when you work here often enough for the boss to assign you a uniform, you really ought to talk to him about putting you on his payroll."

I grabbed my 'uniform' with a scowl on my face—thigh high black boots, ripped, faded booty shorts, fishnets, elbow-length ripped fingerless gloves, a white cami, and a waist-length leather jacket. "Yeah, I know. But this way if Boss gets caught in his little, ah, _enterprise_, I don't get put in prison and his sentence goes up. Besides, once I'm eighteen, I'm outta here. Pennsylvania, maybe." In case you were wondering where my mom 'worked', it was a place called 'The Cage'. A speakeasy that survived the Prohibition, with the lack of 'illegal', they started changing with the times. As new drugs were introduced and new substance laws made, the people who ran it didn't just want to be a speakeasy that faded into the pages of history as one that survived; they wanted to stay in the shadows as the head of the new generation of nightclubs: one with dens for every drug introduced since, from marijuana to cocaine and meth, as well as prostitution and ignorance of checking ID. In other words, if he was caught, I seriously doubt the boss would ever see the light of day.

Uniform, or costume more like, on, I headed out, where 'Maneater' by Nelly Furtado was blasting, and I made sure my pepper spray and taser were safe. The first table I was assigned to was one full of jocks from my school. _Dammit._ I've formed a reputation of sorts when people found out about my working there. Well, this was going to be a great night.

"Well, well, well, it's Sassy Cassie we get assigned to today. Aren't we lucky boys?" The leader, the quarterback unsurprisingly, laughed at my friends and winked at me.

It took everything I had not to punch his lights out. _Moving away from Camden. I need the tips. Just put up with these assholes until they leave so I can get tips._ I smiled back flirtatiously. "Well, I guess it is your lucky night. Maybe in more than one way…"

"Well, my bike _does_ ride pretty well, if you know what I mean."

"Tempting, but first can I get your order?"

"A round of rum and Cokes for us. And maybe later we can all get some Ice together."

Of course he was on meth. I saw it now. The too-wide eyes starting to droop, the fact they didn't want anything to eat. But I could also tell that they were near the end of their high, so that's probably why they went straight to the good stuff. "All right. How's about we meet around, say, two o'clock?" My mom's shift ended about one, so it left plenty of time to get away.

XXXXX

The next few hours went much the same way, when after a shot… or three… I decided it wasn't worth it so stay around. So I changed back into my faded ripped jeans, t-shirt, biker boots and motorcycle jacket and left, too drunk to think about the fact I didn't have a car, bike, or money for a cab. Then I saw it. The rich brat hadn't been lying. He _did_ have a nice motorcycle, but was enough of an idiot to leave his keys there. So I did the most idiotic thing in my life prior to that moment—I stole it. _What the hell?_ I figured. After all, I did have a license.

I lost myself in the roar of the engine and the way it rode until I heard something—a scream. I pulled over into the next alley, knowing not to interfere with gang business.

"I'm telling you, I didn't touch your fucking drugs!" yelled one man, obviously terrified.

"Oh, really," said another man, obviously the ringleader. "Well, boys, I guess we'll just have to make an example of him, won't we?"

I knew what was happening next. I heard gunshots and the body of the man hit the floor. In that moment, something clicked. Ever since I was little, I had another side—sadistic and violent and _hungry_. I've been fighting it as long as I can remember without knowing why. But the second that body hit the ground, I couldn't fight it anymore. It got out.

I can't even _begin _to describe the pain of the transformation. Depending on your upbringing, you probably heard of Joan of Arc: the great French warrior who led the country to victory at the age of seventeen and burned at the stake for practicing witchcraft two years later. I can now safely say I know how she felt. My flesh started crawling first, before catching on fire. Little by little, my flesh burned off and hit the ground, my eyes long gone. In place of the thin, pale, girl with choppily cut dark brown hair and gray eyes was a flaming skeleton. The sound that came out of my mouth was a twisted sound between a scream and a laugh. _I _was screaming; _it_ was laughing, I don't know why. Maybe it was glad to be free. Either way, the other side was completely in control no matter how much I wanted to turn back.

It walked to the alley where the men—there were five of them—were congratulating themselves and looting the body. My hand—now skeletal and on fire—reached out for a weapon and found a chain. It lit on fire once I touched it. They seemed to notice me after that.

"What the hell is that thing?"

"How the fuck am I supposed to know? Kill it!"

I don't know how, so don't ask me, but they never got the chance to kill me. Laughing like a maniac, I ran at all of them swinging my fiery chain/whip, full of hatred for these men. They were the worst of the worst. I saw it all—the raping, the murders, and the drugs they abused and pushed. I wanted to make them _pay_. So I did, the whip cutting through each body leaving behind nothing but ash.

The other side satiated, I returned to myself, skin reforming, fire receding, but before the blackness closed in, I could still feel my bones on fire.


	2. One Hell of a Hangover

**A/N: Hello, people of the Earth! I should explain some stuff. This scene takes place in a Catholic church (I've never been in a Protestant or Orthodox one. Everyone in my family is Catholic. Hell, everyone who **_**married**_** into my family is Catholic) on the outskirts of Philly. Moreau is someone I kinda stole from **_**Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance**_**, where, coincidentally, I got a lot of stuff for Cassie. Notes are at the bottom. I only own Cassie. **

When I woke up (I'll be honest here), I had no clue where the hell I was. Reaching out, though, I felt four full glasses and I downed them quickly, frankly not caring if it was water or vodka. All I knew was that my head was on fire and this was the mother of all hangovers.

Once I returned to semi consciousness, enough to open my eyes at least, I started taking note of my surroundings so I could at least have a clue. The building I was in had a high white ceiling and white walls decorated with stained glass windows. The smell of incense (and not the kind I was on infrequently, the good old Mary Jane) hung sweet in the air, and a voice praying,

_The LORD is my shepherd;  
I shall not want.  
He makes me to lie down  
in green pastures,  
He leads me beside the still waters  
He rests my soul. (1)_

The voice was deep, smooth, and French accented. Was he the reason I was here, in what I could only assume was a church? However, I _did_ recognize the prayer he was saying though I had never been in a church before. Whenever someone died at my school (hardly a rare occurrence), there was a prayer service for them. The prayer—the Twenty-Third Psalm—was one of those most often said.

Noticing my open eyes, he cut off. "Ah. You are awake. That is good."

I groaned in pain. The water didn't do much to help the fire in my bones. "Good? What about that is good?" Rolling my head to the side, I saw the owner of the voice. He had close-cut black hair that curled close to his dark skin and eyes an unusual shade of gold. He was tall and somewhat muscular. He wore all black, with a bit of white showing at the collar, marking him as a Catholic priest. I internally sighed. _Total_ waste of eternal virgin. (2)

"It is good that you are alive and the hallowed ground hasn't killed you as you slept." He helped me to a sitting position. "I apologize for my lack of manners. My name is Moreau. It is a blessing to have you here with me, sister."

Sister? _That_ threw me off a bit. "Sister? But we're not related."

Moreau stood up, smiling. "Ah, but we are. We are all children of the Lord, whether our birth be heavenly," he gestured to the large crucifix hanging in the front of the church, "Earthly," he pointed to himself, "or demonic." He aimed a pointed look at me.

Yeah. _That_ helped. Not. Me, a demon? First, those weren't real, just a story to scare children into behaving. Second, that was stretching it. Sure, I was no angel. I've lied, cheated, and stolen. I drink, smoke, and occasionally do some select drugs. I've had one night stands. I've spent a few nights in juvie. I killed. At least, I think I did. Last night was more terrifying nightmare than reality—a fuzzy memory at best. The only part of it that I remembered, that felt _real_, was the pain. And that was still there.

Taking a chance, I forced myself to my feet, leaning on the pew I was set on. Then something flashed in my vision. Grabbing it, I saw it was white, long, and bony, and when I added the slightest amount of pressure on it—"Holy _fuck_!" I yelled in pain. Following it, I saw it was attached to me, at the base of my spine. "What the _hell?!_" Alright. Maybe I wasn't _completely_ human, after all.

Moreau seemed merely amused. "I should explain, _non_ (3)_?_ Let us start with a principle—one you should know now that you are part of this world. There are three realms—Heaven, Assiah, and Gehenna. For simplicity's sake I shall explain the latter two. We live in Assiah, the world of humans, the realm the Father set aside for us. Gehenna is a reflection of Assiah, only filled with demons and evil, as well as damned souls… everything the Father wanted to keep away from us. I shall explain the damned souls later, as well.

"Normally, communication between these worlds—it does not happen. But demons find objects to possess, anywhere from a speck of dust to a human being. Your father was a demon possessing a human."

"My father?"

"I'm getting to that. Your father was an, ahem, special case. He is Zarathos, Demon of Vengeance, and slave to Samael. Zarathos was once an angel charged with assisting the Prince of the Heavenly Host, Michael, in assisting the weak and innocent of humankind. But he was tricked. Samael brought him to the darker parts of Assiah, showing him those in power and the corrupt, and he was, inevitably, driven insane. He became a demon; his mission to protect the innocent perverted into a lust to punish the guilty, and forced to serve Samael. When he isn't doing that, he seeks out evil souls and consumes them, bringing them to Satan, and that's what you did last night. When you killed those men, their souls were brought to Gehenna. It was to be expected. Awakening usually occurs around the sixteenth year. Unless you inhabit hallowed ground, at night, in the presence of evil, you _will _become like that again."

A lot of this, almost all of it, went over my head, and flaming skull on top of hangover on top of confusion is a recipe for excruciating pain. "Damn. My head."

"_Oui_ (4). I have something for that." He produced a bottle of aspirin from his pocket. He gave it to me. "You may want to keep that. Assuming you will remain this way, transformation will not become any easier. Now, to finish my story. I saw everything last night—the murder, your Awakening, you killing those men, and then changing back and losing consciousness. I brought you and your motorcycle here last night as I tended some burns on you. I suppose I should also give you some words of warning—avoid Samael and his kin. The way your father became a demon and his hatred of the Trickster is imprinted into your blood. You must stay on hallowed ground whenever possible. You cannot change then. Also," he gave me something. It was a silver pin in the shape of a cross with purple and blue in it. "You will have to leave in about a week. You shouldn't stay in one place for two long. When you find a holy place, show the owner this, and they shall let you stay for a night or two because it shows that you are under the protection of the Knights of the True Cross. Or my protection, at least."

"Knights of the _what_?" As if my head didn't hurt enough.

"The True Cross. It's an organization founded by European Crusaders during the Dark Ages. They are exorcists, charged with two directives. The first is to kill demons with extreme prejudice. The second is to protect humans whenever possible. Half-demons such as yourself, not at all rare, are a, ah, _special case_. As demons, we are to kill you. But as humans, we are to protect you. A case such as this was what really brought this issue to light about six years ago, I believe."

I understood some of that now. "So, let me get this straight—depending on who found me last night, I could've been _killed_ for something I didn't know about?"

He hung his head, somewhat ashamed. "_Oui._ Here," he gave me something else—a notebook with script on the front. "I've been working on this for the past few months. I hoped it would help someone like you—someone who was new to this world and needed help understanding. I must prepare for service. I have a place in the sacristy where you can stay (5)."

**Notes:**

**1-The 23****rd**** Psalm, one of the best known psalms and is usually read at funerals. **

**2-Catholic Priests take an oath of chastity and never marry or have relations. **

**3-**_**Non**_**-French-no.**

**4-**_**Oui**_**-French-yes. **

**5-Sacristy: separate segment of the church, usually near the altar, where items such as the priest's, deacon's, and altar server's vestments are stored, as well as chalices (cups where the Wine is served) and patens (dishes where the Bread is held). Usually closed to the congregation. **

**Reviews are loved! Please, at least give me a Sue alert if she needs one. **


	3. Heading Out

**A/N: Here I am! Admittedly, late, but whatever. I only own Cassie. **

The next few days passed in a haze. I was a church hand in return for his charity in bringing me here, and when I wasn't doing that, I was reading up on my religion and myths. After all, _I _was one.

Normally, I hated reading. Absolutely _loathed_ it. But since it was for my survival, I made an exception. The first piece of literature given to me was one I was supposed to read over Christmas break but blew off entirely, _Paradise Lost_. Once I got over the confounding form, that one was actually… interesting. You know with 'Better to reign in Hell than to serve in Heaven', 'The mind can make a Heaven of Hell and a Hell of Heaven' and all that. That was followed by the _Divine Comedy_, along with numerous books about angels, demons, Heaven, and Hell. The whole thing with angels was what I liked to read about most. That, along with the Fall.

The day I had to leave, Moreau caught me reading. "Don't you need more light?"

I shook my head. "I never really liked light." That was why I always pulling all-nighters, even when I didn't need to study. I wanted to take full advantage of the time where most everything was asleep and there wasn't a giant circle of light threatening to blind me. I guess it was another thing I was going to have to give up.

"It likes the dark places, then." I just noticed he was out of his normal priests' attire and in jeans, a large black t-shirt, and a black leather trench coat. "I don't really need those dusty old books. You can have them." He leaned against the wooden sliding closet door in the sacristy. "Come outside with me." I followed him where he was holding my bike. Well, not _my_ bike, but it might as well be now.

I shook my head. "I can't. Nowhere to put them, remember?" I spread my arms to show that I, indeed, didn't have a bag or a pocket big enough to hold even one of these.

He smiled, motioning to a leather bag on the side of the seat. "Just as forgetful as your father, I see."

That took me by surprise. "Did you know my father?"

He sighed and sat down. "_Oui_. For a time, at least. You look like him, you know. He ran for years, and from what I can tell, he's still running. I guess that that will probably happen to you, too. Well, what can I tell you about him? He was sarcastic, withdrawn. But that's because of his curse. He drank a lot, too. He's a biker, he was all his life. I guess you got that from him, too. Now, about your own bike." There was something there I didn't notice before—a black skull and crossbones on it, in front of the seat. "That marks it as yours. If—God forbid—you should change again, there is a class of demon, Ghost Riders, that serve Zarathos. One shall sense your power whenever you change, and be drawn to your vehicle, in this case, your motorcycle, whenever you ride it. This here," he motioned to it, "is a seal that sends the Ghost Rider back to Gehenna the second you change back."

Mounting the bike, I looked up at him. "So… this is goodbye, huh?"

"For now. Oh, and one more thing?" He tossed me something—two flasks. "One has holy water in it. If you feel yourself losing control, put a little on your skin. Do not ingest it at any costs. The other… well, I decided it would be better if you got drunk on something good, instead of the cheap crap you were drinking earlier, when I found you. But if anyone asks, you didn't get it from me."

I was oddly touched by the gift of the whiskey, maybe because it was a priest giving it to me. I looked at the flask with liquid courage in it, and saw an inscription: _At the shrine of friendship never say 'die'/ Let the wine of friendship never run dry_. I looked up to him again "Thank you. Until we meet again." I nodded. I kicked the kickstand and drove away from everything I knew before.

XXXXX

I covered about fifty miles the first day before the sun started to set. Seeing a church, I veered off. The priest was a kind man who led me in and even prepared a bed in the sacristy. "It is odd to see a girl of your age on your own."

"I've run into some… problems lately."

"You're part demon."

I looked up. "How did you know?"

"Your ears are pointed. You're wearing the mark of an Exorcist, or someone under his protection. I must admit, it is a rare occurrence that I see a half-breed. Do not worry. I have no qualms with your kind. So I suppose that answers my query about your coming here."

"Thank you for your hospitality. Once the sun rises, however, I must be on my way. It is not good for me to be at the same place for too long. I shall help clean the church, though, because you have been so kind."

"There is no need. Rest tonight and continue tomorrow."

XXXXX

The next month went the same way, finding a church and thanking each priest for his hospitality. Until I made the worst mistake of my life, worse than stealing the motorcycle—I kept riding when I saw the sky turn pink with the sunset, thinking I could find another church. The pain started the second the sun dipped under the horizon. I felt the skin melt off my bones as I pulled into an abandoned warehouse. The mix of pain, fear, insanity, and relief ran through me, only faster. It actually felt kind of… good. _That's right. Give up._ I knew it was easier if I waited it out till morning, but the other side had other plans. Once the transformation was complete, I placed my hands on the motorcycle and the Ghost Rider demon entered it, transforming it. Mounting it with some sick sense of satisfaction, the other side drove off, saying with smugness, _I see you've accepted the monster. And there'll be hell to pay._

When I awoke, my head was on fire again, the pain was still there, and once again, I had the mother of all hangovers. There was blood on my jacket. Popping a few of the pills that Moreau gave me, I held my head in my hands, wondering just what I did. Who I killed. If my life was always going to be this hell.

**A/N: The inscription on the flask was from the song 'Drink with Me' from Les Miserables, which I saw yesterday in theaters. Want to know how it was? Go to operaghost96. Deviantart. Com, and remove the spaces.**

**Please drop a review to tell me how I can improve!**


	4. New Country, New Beginning

**A/N: Okay, here's the next chapter! WARNING! Self-mutilation and mentions of attempted suicide ahead! Don't say I didn't warn you!**

**I only own Cassie**

Sixteen months.

Seventeen incidents.

Forty-three murders.

Forty-eight states.

More churches than I'd care to count.

One close call to an arrest.

In all honesty, I've become nothing more than a fugitive, thin to the point of anorexia. I don't even recognize myself on 'Have You Seen This Child?' posters. It's become a routine, I guess—Wake up at sunrise and hit the road. Pick the pocket of the nearest person who looked well-to-do. Use the money to gas up the bike, get a bottle of aspirin—the pain was a constant companion now—and my next meal. If I got enough, I might get a small bottle of liquor or occasionally a new t-shirt, always plain and white. Hit the road. Find a church once the sun starts to set. Go to sleep. Repeat the process. Aside from that, about once a month, I'd chop my hair short, to a couple inches before my chin. No more drugs. No more smoking. No more one night stands.

I was in San Diego that day, the sun beating down on me as I watched giant crates be boarded on gigantic ships. I saw police putting up posters for a wanted murderer. Looking at them, I saw me. Or the other side, at least: a skull on fire wearing biker gear. When I looked at that poster, I realized something: the second I changed next time, the police would take me in. More people would get hurt. I couldn't let that happen.

No matter how many times I'd tried to kill myself in the past months, I just couldn't do it. I couldn't pull the trigger. I couldn't cut any deeper. I couldn't take any more pills, and I was building up a tolerance to them, besides. No matter how dangerously I drove, the crash didn't kill me. I was a coward. I couldn't end my own life while I murdered almost four dozen people. There was only one option. Run. As quickly as I could, I rode into the nearest shipping crate. I prayed I wouldn't lose myself without being on holy ground for a few nights. I was grateful that I had my knife with me, though. It drew me into focus. Surprise, I stole that, too.

The first night was hardest. The security guard checked the outside of my crate a few times to ensure there were no stowaways. Drawing the blade to my wrist, I felt the kiss of the blade bring me back. Warmth blossomed on my arm—blood, still hot. Once he left, I took a bit of the gauze in the bag on my motorcycle (stolen, again), and wrapped it around my left wrist. Leaning my head back, I fell into a deep blessed sleep until the nightmare began.

"_What are you?"_

"_Freak!"_

"_Don't kill me! I'll go straight! I'll do anything!"_

"_Have mercy!"_

_The faces were frozen in pain in terror before they all burned. A sick pride ran through me as I watched myself kill these men._

"You may as well accept it. You love this. This feels _good,_ doesn't it?" _the other side scowled at me before moving to me. I knew this place. It was the alley where this all started. It choked me as I felt my soul sucked out._

"_I tried to help you. You and your father both. But you, like him, proved to be beyond saving." Moreau, in the black trench coat, clicked his tongue disappointedly._

I woke up in a cold sweat. Was I still alive? Standing up, I threw myself at the ribbed wall. The pain in my shoulder proved that I was. I wondered where I was, praying I was in Spain, or perhaps England. Somewhere I spoke the language.

_Well, _I decided, _it would be better not to stay around long enough for the people manning the ship to find out. _When I felt the crate lurch before being set down again, I mounted the bike and rode out the second the people manning the boat opened the door. It was sunny outside. That was good. It gave me time to find a holy place.

As I rode, I found that I couldn't recognize anything on the signs. That ruled out the rest of North America, South America, and Europe. I decided to pull into the nearest thing that resembled a church and pray they spoke at least a little English.

The nearest church proved to be a tiny monastery on the outskirts of a city that I didn't know the name of. Pulling off and entering, the monastery proved to be a little… poor-looking and outdated.

"Hello?" I asked, hoping someone was there.

I heard clambering and hushed discussions in another language. I was met by a young man in a priests' uniform with spiky light brown hair. He started speaking in a confusing language.

"I can't understand you. Do you speak English?"

Widening his eyes in recognition, he asked in a heavily accented voice, "My name is Yamazaki. How can I help you?"

"Where am I?" I started with the most pressing question.

He grinned. "Oh, that's easy! You're in Our Lady of Sorrows monastery in True Cross Town, just outside of Tokyo. Can I ask who you are?"

"Cassandra Martin." I lowered my voice, pulling out the cross Moreau gave me. "Do you think you could help me? I just need some lodging for the night."

He smiled again. "Nonsense! You can stay as long as you like." His expression sobered. "Where did you get that?"

"An exorcist who helped me about a year ago. After I found out I was half-demon."

His eyes widened and his jaw dropped. "Who's your parent?"

I lied. "I don't know. But I don't have any money and I don't speak Japanese, so I can't stay in a hotel." I paused. "I'm sorry to ask this of you so suddenly. I can help as a church hand, if you want."

He grinned again. "Are you kidding me? We held a son of Satan for fifteen, almost sixteen, years here before his powers awakened. A daughter of a demon who was once an angel would be a walk in the park!" He scratched his chin now. "Though we _did_ have the Paladin watching him with us. Oh well. Maybe we could teach you Japanese while you stay." He called three other priests up. One was a chubby, black-haired one named Ebisawa, a black-haired one with it spiked up named Kenmatsu, and a brown-haired one named Ise.

Each of the priests proved pretty friendly, though surprised when the only thing I had to unpack was… well… books and booze.

At dinner, Ise apologized, "I'm sorry our cooking isn't very good we used to depend on a kid who used to live here for food and our cooking skills leave a lot to be desired."

I certainly didn't think so. "I've been living off of fast food restaurants for the past year. This is pretty good."

"So, maybe we could help you… you know… learn Japanese."

"That would honestly be awesome."

XXXXX

_Eight months later…_

When I convinced myself that I could passably speak Japanese (foreign languages were one of the few things I was good at—one of the only classes I passed back in high school was Spanish), I thanked the priests for their help and letting me stay there.

"Come back anytime!"

"Tell Rin we said 'Hi' if you ever meet up with him!"

Rin was apparently the son of Satan and the case that brought the issue of half-breeds to light that Moreau was talking about.

Driving off, I, for once, really wanted to return there. Maybe it was because I stuck around long enough to get to know them instead of running off at daybreak.

While I was riding, after about half an hour, I felt something very wrong. Very, _extremely_ wrong. There it was, in the back of my mind, fighting to get out. The other side. But how? How in the hell was that even remotely possible? It was about two in the afternoon—far too early for sunset, proven by the sun high in the sky.

_This is what you get for your complacency, girl. I'm _hungry_ and the most evil spirit I've sensed in a long time is out there. _It started laughing maniacally as I changed.

As always, it hurt. After all, I was literally being burned alive. But this time it was fast, almost instantaneous. It must be really hungry to get out that fast. I don't know how long I was on that road before it drove into the woods. Then it hit me. Hard. It was the darkest, most evil soul I've ever sensed—murder, insanity, trickery… the other side was right. I headed straight for it, belatedly realizing that there was a group of teens around her. For the first time in my recollection, the other side spoke to someone other than me.

"_I see your wrongdoings, demonic angel. I have come to punish you," _it looked around, seeing into the soul of each of the teenagers, all guilty, _"and the ones who stand with you, for all have committed wrong."_

At this point, the person in question would beg for their life, weeping in fear. There was no question about it—she wasn't human, as proved by what she said next. "You come to punish those who have committed wrong, kin of Zarathos. But tell me, what will you do with those who have committed no wrong?" How did she know who my father was? She continued, "I have two sons present with me. Whilst they are demon in origin, they hold some angelic blood from me and they have committed no wrong deed. So will you punish them as well?" _Kids?_ No. whatever I did, I tried to hold myself back.

_Listen. There are kids. Please hold back, just this once._

_Never. This would be the most delicious meal I've ever had and I'm not about to hold back because some pill-popping alcoholic has a soft spot. _

"You would at least grace me with your name so I know who to curse when I am returned to my father."

_She's stalling._

_She has authority. Let me answer her. You can remain in control._

_Very well._

"Cassandra Martin."

She chuckled a little and said something before I felt a rush of water. No effect. Another one, larger this time. Somehow, I could tell I was me again and distantly registered being carried on something before blacking out.

**A/N: Okay, we're kinda caught up now. So… recap: after running for about a year, in San Diego, Cassie finds out she's a wanted murderer. She runs onto a shipping container, hoping it's not going anywhere, but it ends up going to Japan, where they don't even have the same writing system. So she meets up with the priests from the monastery where Rin used to live, learns Japanese, and meets Astarte. **

**Please Review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Yay… here's another chapter. I only own Cassie**

When I opened my eyes, a stark white ceiling greeted me. _Where am I? Another church? _ I reached out to my left. A metallic rail, like the ones on cots in hospitals. _What happened? I haven't drunk for a while so I know I didn't drive like that._ Then it came crashing back to me: leaving the monastery, changing in broad daylight, almost killing someone, the other side called her Astarte, demonic angel, daughter of Satan. Then a burst of water. Then blackness.

A voice greeted me from my left. "Ah, so sleeping beauty finally awakens and joins the world of the living." There she was: the girl I tried to kill. She looked about my age. A book was open on her lap and two boys sat with her. The picture wasn't a rare one. Teen pregnancy was pretty common nowadays. But they looked about five… it might be some freaky demon thing. "Though I suppose after seeing your other side, you could be considered a sleeping ugly." She set down the book and the boys who I could only assume were her sons. _Other side. _She said it with such ease as if it were to be expected.

Deciding to try and sit up (mobility was usually limited after changing back), I asked, "What happened?" rubbing my face with my palm trying to remember the details. I didn't want to say what was on my mind: _Did I kill anyone?_

She didn't seem to understand the context of my question. "You came charging in on your familiar, interrupting my lesson in the process I may add, and claimed you were going to punish those who had committed wrong as is your nature." I gathered that much. But my familiar? I became somewhat familiar with the world of exorcists in the past two years, and familiars were pets of sorts, but the Ghost Rider demon was just something that came and went with my changes. She put down the book. "If you're wondering why you didn't, I managed to get that human side of yours to respond to the fact my two handsome little princes were there with me." The two little boys giggled at her words as she held them closer. A stab of jealousy hit me. A _demon_ could learn to be a loving mother while my completely human mom rarely ever had the time of day for me, other than when she took me to her work. I wondered if she ever noticed I was gone. She continued, "So, I take it that you want to be trained as well? Though you are in pretty good control already." Good control? That was almost laughable; I changed about once a month before coming to Japan, where I never really left the monastery. My version of control was slicing my wrist so the pain would bring me back, and that rarely ever worked. She amended, "Well, of your familiar, at least."

I reached for my jeans pocket. My head was on fire. There wasn't anything there. "You'd train me despite the fact I wanted to… take you back to Gehenna?"

She didn't seem to notice my desperate search for self-medication. "I assume that if I did not take you under my wing, in a non-literal sense of the term, then I would be exorcised for failing to comply with the Vatican's orders," she explained. "Besides, what's one more of you to train? You'd end up being dumped on me by the Vatican anyway." Another one? Then I remembered the group of teenagers with guilty souls. Those must have been her students. She got to her feet and walked to the window, adding with a hint of humor, "Besides, they wouldn't appreciate it if I left your familiar running around the academy." I heard a roaring I'd recognize anywhere: my bike. Getting out of my hospital bed with relative ease, and followed her to the large hospital window. Instead of its normal black with a flame job, the front was enlongated, the metal crafted to resemble bones and chains and in place of the headlight was a massive skull, spewing fire. I never really paid attention to what it looked like when possessed. I just knew it changed with me. It drove in circles around the area outside my room, like a puppy eager to play catch.

"It hasn't moved since we brought you here. It must be some sort of loyalty thing." I glanced sidelong at her. "Now, as much as I would love to stay and chat I unfortunately have a meeting with the Vatican so I need to go. But I expect to see you with your familiar with the rest of the class tomorrow, understand?" I nodded. "Excellent, now. If you'll excuse me." She turned on her heel and exited the room as a nurse entered.

"Ah, Martin-san. You'll be pleased to hear that you are to be discharged later today." Oh, crap. I didn't have time to steal any money so I didn't have a penny to my name. "Miss Faust said that she will cover your hospital bill so you do not need to worry about that either." Well, thank God for Good Samaritans. She took out a box and a prescription, instructing me to take two every four hours and no more. Well screw that. Dumping about four pills into my hand, I downed them without any water—my head hurt too much to bother with normal doses.

I heard a voice from behind me. "Oh, you're alright now?" he asked somewhat sarcastically. There were two boys, an unconscious Caucasian 16-year-old and an older male with hair so black it looked blue and a demon tail. I assumed it was the older one, since he was awake. "You seemed to be in bad shape when Astarte brought you here. Even though she was the one who put you in that way." I looked closer to the boy. Was that a _leg missing?_ He shook his head. "Anyway, we were never properly introduced. I'm Okumura Rin and this here is Drake Ashton." So he was the one who the priests at Our Lady of Sorrows wouldn't shut up about.

The only thing I could think of saying wasn't 'Hello', 'Nice to meet you', or anything like that. No, what I said next made me sound like a real genius. "Why is his leg missing?" I stared at the trailing blood and ragged flesh where his thigh should've been.

He laughed nervously. "Funny story, actually. You see, Well, he kinda got in Astarte's way when she was leaving the hospital and tripped her up. Usually she'd just batter you around the head a few times but she seemed to be annoyed over the fact she'd have to face the Vatican covered in dust so...chopped his leg off." The Vatican. I've only heard the name scarcely in my months of running but it was the second time I heard of the mysterious heads of the Knights of the True Cross today." The boy, Drake, moaned in pain. "Well, that's my cue. See you around…" he trailed off, obviously asking my name.

"Cassandra Martin." He nodded and continued dragging the semi-conscious boy, tiny drops of blood in their wake. I turned back to the window and watched the demon possessing my bike, my familiar now, I guess, feeling the ruthless hunger deep inside. Well, might as well drown it.

Walking outside to my bike, I placed my hand on the seal. It immediately changed back to normal. Reaching into the bag, I pulled out the whiskey flask Moreau gave me and took a quick swig. Before you lecture me about drinking and driving, and I know it's an ass move, I just wanted to drown the pain. As the great Buddy Nielsen once said, "I think these pills are too plain. Drink up the loneliness."

XXXXX

After about a day roaming around the campus, enjoying the looks I got from people that clearly implied I was insane, I saw one of the other kids, the Drake Ashton who was missing a leg a few hours ago, but… it was back now. He flagged me down. Stopping, he ran up to me with a twisted grin. "I think you're a lot hotter when you're not on fire." I punched him for that. "Sorry, I couldn't resist. So you're our new classmate, huh?"

I shrugged. "I guess. Not sure how long it'll last, though."

"As in, you might get kicked out?"

I shook my head. "As in, I might kill you."

"Astarte'll take care of that. She told me to show you to your dorm and help you unpack."

The dorm was an abandoned boy's dormitory and according to Drake, where the entire class was taking up residence. He offered to help me unpack, so I let him. A scare would be good for the kid. Unhooking the leather bag I took it to my new room. "Let's see… books, books, a knife, another book… wait, a knife?!" His eyes bugged out of his skull.

"And painkillers and alcohol," I pointed out.

"Please tell me not all Americans are like you. And what's the knife for anyway?" I rubbed my left wrist subconsciously. He caught it. "You don't…"

Putting on a fake grin, I said, "Nope. Just for self defense. And what's with you? A few hours ago you didn't have a leg."

He smiled nervously. "I might've gotten in Astarte's way. Don't worry, she cuts off my limbs all the time. It just hurts like a mother. Oh, and Astarte told me to tell you that Mephisto put seals all over the campus so you can't change against your will."

"Alright. Cool. Thanks for the help, Drake."

"Anytime, Cass." That stopped me in my tracks. No one called me 'Cass' since the last relationship I was in when I was 14, before my mom 'hired' me. Then the kid got in trouble for substance abuse. I guess that the only guy who'd ever go for me had to be on some kind of drug.

**A/N: Please review!**


	6. Home Sweet Home?

**A/N: Well, after the mother of all writer's block, I'm back! I only own Cassandra.**

The sun cracked over the horizon as I woke myself up from the best lie-in I've had in my life. My mom wasn't in the next room playing 'twister' with one of her 'friends' (having sex with one of her customers. The woman never cared that I was in the next room. There were even a few times she had two men over), I wasn't in a pristine sacristy laying on a thin blanket, or in the middle of Central Park (don't ask) or Pennsylvania wilderness (long story), I was in a bed. An incredibly warm bed with blankets laying over my sleep-contorted form.

I heard my door open. "Hey, Psycho, get up. Wait, are you going to flame out on us again?" The Drake kid from the hospital who showed me around campus stood in my doorway, a sleepy grin on his face.

"You know my name's Cassandra, and that usually only happens at night when I don't find holy ground. I was already up." I crawled out of bed in my usual t-shirt and jeans and pulled on my jacket and boots.

"Don't you have any other clothes?"

"Nope. Can't shoplift that easily anymore, plus, there are better things to do with pickpocket money."

"Like what?"

I pulled my flask out of my boot. "Liquor. So why does Purple Hair want us up so early?"

"We're taking a field trip. To America."

"Home sweet home," I muttered.

XXXXX

"It's too early," whined a girl with hot pink hair (Japan sure was weird) and agreeing mutters from around the crowd. I felt like laughing at them, but I thought better of it when Astarte cut them off.

"Oh, stop your whining. You lot got a much nicer wake-up call then I used to back in Gehenna...And a lie-in as well now that I think of it." She gestured for us to all gather round her, so I complied, checking my jacket for those wonderful, lovely painkillers. She continued, "Now, as you know, we're travelling to the American branch of the order today. The original plan was to travel through the Vatican headquarters but apparently some of the citizens there don't like the idea of their beloved Vatican city being invaded by demons...so we're going to the Italian branch and then flying from there. Do you understand?"

Italy. Despite the fact I probably couldn't speak their language worth shit, I've longed to go there for as long as I can remember. Perhaps it was because the only thing my mom would ever tell me about my father (if she knew which lay of the day it was that impregnated her with me) was that he went to Italy to study. I knew it was a ridiculous notion, and that I wouldn't see him there, but there was always a vague hope, though now that I knew the truth I didn't really want to see him.

"Why can't we follow the original plan?" asked a weird-looking girl with… were those _horns?_

The three looked at each other before the clownish-looking one who set my instincts between _run _and _strangle_ just by looking at him, explained, "Well, the Vatican city has been a bit...iffy about letting demons pass through it since the...incident eight years ago."

A scoff resounded through the crowd and I saw a woman a few years younger than my mother in the most whorish getup I have ever seen. "Yeah, that was an incident. I mean, only incidents get their own names and murmured about with horror." I looked at her skeptically, wondering what she meant. "I mean, an incident is all you can call the time one of the highest level demons in existence goes nuts and starts destroying everything isn't it?" The angry look on her face was aimed straight at my new teacher, and I couldn't help but look, as well.

"Shura-san, you know we do not talk about that situation," said a man who had a stick shoved so far up his ass that it came out his head.

"You're going to have to explain what happened though. These students have a right to know." The man who spoke was incredibly built with a bleached streak running through his slicked-back hair. I looked at Astarte, wondering what he meant.

"Eight years ago, I was involved in an incident now referred to as dawn of the purple flames." I had to force myself to breathe. I've heard the incident mentioned a few times, and the fear in their voices was unmistakable. I always wondered what kind of beast could affect people, _exorcists_, so profoundly. "I...I was tortured in order to save Rin and open a gate in what the fool who started it thought would be the only way to save Assiah. I was in so much pain that the barriers I set up to limit my powers collapsed around me and my flames were unleashed. I destroyed everything around me, including the gate. And I killed so many. But my flames also managed to break down a door which meant I could get into the Vatican. I destroyed half of the city and murdered a large number of people before I was brought back under control. They don't want us there because they fear I will lose control again." I didn't blame them. The demoness may have put on a façade of control, but I could tell from experience there was no telling when it would crack.

"Is that the reason you had to go back?" asked the pink-haired one.

"One of them. I had to return because my father was badly injured during the battle to seal the gate. Gehenna needs a ruler and I am the one who must take the throne should my father ever have to step back." She shook her head. "But we need to get going. I don't want to have to spend any longer than necessary in the Vatican. Let's go." She turned on her heel and began walking forward, the two children running after her as that eerie man pulled out a key.

When we were all in the building, Astarte turned to us. "Now, seeing as it's going to be a relatively long flight I have a training task for you all. You all lack focus which is why you can struggle with keeping control of your familiars and your abilities. So, I want you lot to practice maintaining focus. Once we board the plane, each of you will be given a piece of paper with a word written on it. I expect you to meditate and focus only on that word. If anything distracts you, I will know and I will give you extra training when we land. Understand?"

On the plane, I looked at the single foreign character written on the small paper: _Pain._ Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes, focusing on what that word meant to me.

"_You're worthless. You fail almost every single class and you can't do anything right! Why didn't I just abort you before you were born?" my mother's words cut into a fifth-grader me, and it wasn't the first time, and far from the last, that she berated me ruthlessly like that._

_A thirteen-year-old me, a kitchen knife slicing into my wrist, and the sweet feeling of my warm red life falling onto the white tile. The pain brought me to amazing highs._

_Fire everywhere, in my blood, in my bones, constantly burning me every waking moment. The pain I felt when I killed those people. The pain I felt when they tried to fight back with a gun. There were no internal organs when I walked with the demon, but everything hurt. Blinding pain, every time I slipped up. Hours of it, without reprieve. _

The next I was aware of, we were touching down on the tarmac. I'd had just enough of that cursed word and was all too eager to get off. Looking around, I hoped to see a familiar face. One of the priests who had allowed me into their churches for the night, perhaps even Moreau. Looking at the group of exorcists, I was looking for someone tall, dark-skinned, with gold eyes.

"Welcome to America," I heard a woman say. _Yeah, _I thought sarcastically, _real good to be back._ We were probably in Washington, D.C., judging by the Washington Monument out in the distance. I wondered off from the group, as Astarte and the woman were talking. Just then, I caught a flash of amber eyes and dark skin, and darted after the person.

"Cassandra, _merde,_ I thought I told you to lay low," Moreau whispered to me. "That did not mean, _'Go be trained by a psychopathic demoness who's been proven to be treacherous.'" _

I turned red. "I was! Sunset to sunrise in a church every night, before hitting the road. But then, I saw some police, hid in a cargo container in a ship headed for Japan, drove to the nearest church, learned Japanese, and hit the road again, when she," I jerked my thumb at Astarte, "drove my other side nuts and made me transform during the day, something I've _never_ done before, beat the shit out of me, then put me into her class without asking whether I wanted to be there or not."

He chuckled lowly. "Perhaps I should have warned you about her. She is one crazy _fille_, is she not?" At nodding, he moved on. "Are you still getting drunk on that cheap crap," he asked jokingly.

"What you call cheap crap, I call an easy way out. The taste doesn't much bother me anymore."

"Then perhaps we could catch up tonight over some champagne?" I'd never been one for the stuff, but hey, beggars can't be choosers. I nodded.

"Cassandra," Astarte called over. I walked to her. "Have you been taking your pills?"

Using my tail to reach into my pocket, (a trick I've learned over the months, though it usually wasn't _my _pocket it was going into) I pulled out the small, clear orange bottle. "Just two, remember," she ordered. _Yeah, right._ They were stronger than my usual painkillers, but I was being set on freaking _fire_ 24/7. Kind of hard to use two at a time.

"Who was that priest?" Drake asked when I returned.

"Old friend. He's the one who told me what I am after I killed five thugs in an alley." I lowered my voice. "And one who's not so happy that I'm under the care of a demon proven to be a psychopath."

"She's not a—" at seeing the look I was giving him, he thought better of it. "Okay, maybe at times she can be a little not up to sanity par, but she's not that bad."

Our little conversation was interrupted by a redhead boy with gold eyes greeting me. "Such lovely ladies I have the benefit of working with. My name is Eda if you ever need me, milady." He kissed the back of my hand, and I couldn't keep the laughter in any longer. The demon was ridiculous. Completely and truly laughable.

"Maybe you should work on your flirting with a girl that'll fall for it. But that was quite possibly the nicest come-on I've ever gotten."

My attention was drawn to a jet of flame that emerged from a girl in a straitjacket. Oh, I did not see this ending well. She yelled obscenities, straining against the bindings. Suddenly, purple flames bound her to the ground. She yelled something I couldn't make out due to distance. Normal flame shot towards Astarte, which she easily dodged, but then a malevolent blue glow filled the room. I didn't know what it was; all I knew was I should get away from it.

The only thing I could make out due to the fact that I was the whole way across the room from the new students was, "I'm the son of Satan." With those words, I knew more fear than I had felt in a long time.

**A/N: Please review!**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Okay, here's another chapter, and oh, yeah, I forgot to mention this before, but: I do not advocate substance abuse, one night stands, premarital sex, murder, and suicide attempts (I can't say anything about self-mutilation because that would be hypocritical, but try and find someone to talk to if you do). Let's just say that Cassie is my complete opposite as far as morals go.**

What Astarte said next, most people wouldn't care to repeat or write in front of polite or mixed company. But since I was pretty much raised thinking there was nothing wrong with obscene gestures or language, a perfect example of this being flipping off teachers in grade school, I have no qualms about repeating it.

"A son of Satan?!" she squealed (don't tell her I squealed. The bitch is batshit), beating the head of the American Branch. "You have another fucking son of my father here! AND YOU DIDN'T THINK TO MENTION THIS?!" She screamed, proceeding to beat the shit out of him. I couldn't help but stare, and maybe even feel bad for the poor man. I moved to help him, but at least five arms held me back.

"You don't want to do that."

"She goes nuts when people leave out information."

"Do you _want _to die?" I wanted respond to the last person by saying I've tried… and failed. A lot.

"DID YOU LOSE YOUR BRAINS DURING A MISSION OR IS THIS A GENETIC DEFECT OF YOU HUMANS?!" she continued, driving a knee to his gut.

"Yikes. And you people call _me _scary when I get mad," I whispered to the people behind me who just might've saved my life.

"You are."

"The flamey skeleton thing is seriously creepy."

"I felt like you were going to eat my soul."

"I just hope that doesn't happen again."

"Listen. I don't know what happened that I changed like that. I have never in the two years I've been like _this,_" I gestured to my skinny form with dirty, baggy clothes, "have I changed in broad daylight. There's something freaky up with her and that clown she's always around that just… set me on edge. So unless you're in an alley in the middle of the night and I can't find a holy place, you won't see that again."

"So what can you do when you're not like that?" one of them asked.

I had to think hard. "I can drink and pickpocket," I said at length.

The ranting had increased in volume again. "And I mean you just dare! To come outside I will rip you in half and use you intestines as belts!" Shoving two of the new kids, she herded us outside.

Ranting, I asked the pink-haired one what to do, noticing that all the other kids were put into three groups.

"Well, that depends. Do you have a familiar?"

"Yeah, but that one only comes out when I go nuts."

"Are your powers elemental?" I shook my head. "Then you should go with the specialists. Megumi!" she called, and a muscular-looking girl walked up.

"Yeah?"

"She's supposed to be with the specialists."

"Okay. Come with me, Firefly." She gestured me over. thinking it better to follow the instructions of the buff kid (even though she is a girl) than to ignore, I followed her.

"Did I do something to offend all of you?" I asked, rather clueless as to why they kept me at arm's length.

"Other than try to kill us and our teacher, and say that we were all basically going to Hell, no, you did nothing wrong," she said sarcastically.

Damn. Did I really do that? I pulled the flask out of my boot and took a swig. "Was I really that bad?"

Passing Astarte, she stopped me. "Oh right. Cassandra, I have something for you that should help with your...little problem." She said, handing me a pendant. "That seal will hold it back until the point when the pendant is removed."

I mumbled a thank you, and looked at the pendant appraisingly. The cord it came on was simple leather, but the pendant itself was that of a flame and a strange rune inscribed on the back. I highly doubted it could hold something as powerful and destructive as my other side back, but anything was worth a try.

"So how long have you been like… this?" Megumi asked, gesturing to my tail and ears.

"A couple years. One night, I kill five muggers, the next thing I know, I have the mother-in-law of all hangovers, in a church, of all places. That dark-skinned exorcist was there and explained everything to me. I've been running ever since."

"Do you have any family?" she asked, slightly concerned.

"Well, there's my mom, but if there was ever a case to prove you shouldn't get pregnant at fifteen, it's her. I doubt she even knows I'm gone. What about you?"

"I've been like this for a few months. After my mother and stepfather died in a car crash, Azazel claimed me."

"I'm sorry about your parents," I said. Stuff like that happened in Camden all the time, but usually they died of violent crimes or overdose.

She shrugged. "I'm over it. Here's where we train. Now, what can you do?"

"Drink, pickpocket, and ride motorcycles," I said bluntly.

"You never tried doing anything else?"

"Truth be told, I've spent the past two years trying to find a way to get rid of it. Hell, I've even tried killing myself so I wouldn't kill any more people."

"Hmm," she said, considering. Then, out of nowhere, a sword appeared. No, I am not on drugs. A sword freaking _appeared_ out of _nowhere._ Whipping it out, she placed a shallow cut on my hand. Surprisingly, it healed almost instantly. "Well, you have standard demon healing. I'll ask one of the elemental kids to see if you can influence fire."

"You heard me! Daughter of a whore!" I turned, expecting someone to be talking to me, but it was that blond girl with teal eyes who was fuming. I'd have to teach her to get over it. I did when I hit about seventh grade.

Suddenly, a giant bat-thing emerged from the ground and attacked the offender. A call from the distance cued gunshots aimed at the thing. Astarte sliced her palm and brought another demon up. silently, I racked my brain for the answer as to what it was. _Chimera._

She yelled at them, demanding them to stop, and after that, I caught sight of a rather good-looking boy. I grinned. It's been far too long since I've fu—fraternized. He started talking to the pink-haired girl and I had to stifle a grin when the clown (who freaked me out) started going after him, only to be held back by Astarte. He turned to her then, and she merely rolled her eyes. Turning to join the rest of the group and mixing in, he looked at me next.

"Hey, are you Google, because you have everything I'm looking for."

I laughed in his face. True, he was good-looking, but I've heard that one so many times it no longer had any affect. "Oh, God. Listen, it may have been a while for me, but I'm not _that_ desperate." Okay, maybe I was, but he didn't need to know that. For all I knew, he was just as well-traveled as Route 66, if you know what I mean, and I did _not_ want to catch any 'unwanted travelers'.

Astarte called the session to a close and yelled for her sons. "Sora! Chikyuu! Mummy doesn't want to play right now!" She looked down at a piece of paper and turned ghostly pale.

**A/N: Alright, the next chapter will be out soon. And if you read my story 'Story of Generations Past', I need more teachers**


	8. Mazes and Shots

**A/N: This is, without a doubt, the quickest I've ever updated. I only own Cassie.**

"What do you think is going on?" I asked one of my classmates. I think it was the one who was called the daughter of a whore.

"Some bitch took Astarte's sons," she muttered, still tense. "Daughter of a whore. I'll show them," she ranted.

I rolled my eyes. "Please. You get over it after the first few years." I stuffed my hands in my pockets, wishing I hadn't spilled my flask during training. I'd have to get a new fake ID and everything before I could get some more.

"And how the hell would you know?"

"My mom. She's a stripper at an illegally run nightclub in South Jersey. Real trashy place. She'd bring home 'costumers' almost every night. Tried to make _me_ do the same once I turned sixteen."

"Did you?"

I snorted. "Hell no. I, unlike mommy dearest, had _some_ dignity. Not that I have it anymore."

I looked around the hall, which was the furthest into the headquarters of the American Branch any of us had ever been. I overheard Astarte talking with the exorcists. "…I have two words for you, and they are 'Fuck' and 'Off'."

"Look, I know you're upset about what's happened but we..."

"Upset?!" she practically yelled. "That's a fucking understatement! You have no idea what this is like!" turning away from them and towards us, she screamed, "I want every exorcist, including my so called "security" to leave." Reluctantly, they all left, but a few had to be chased out by her familiars. "Alright. How many of you have willingly accessed your partial demon forms?" I raised my hand. True, it wasn't _willing_, but close enough. "I'm going to teach you how to access them. Because for this fight you will need them." _No. Hell no_, I wanted to scream, remembering all too well the agony it causes, but thought better of it, and realizing I was damn near worthless when I'm human. What could I do? Kill them with my booze breath?

"Don't you think you're rushing us?" Megumi asked, and I couldn't help but agree.

"Rushing you? I'm not rushing you. I'm ensuring that some of you have at least a thin chance of surviving this!" Her flames erupted but didn't lash out. "Do any of you know why you lose control of your demon sides?" I shook my head, though I knew she wasn't talking to me in particular. "It's because you cling to the hope that you're still human. You needlessly cling to the hope you have a shred of humanity remaining within you. Well I have news for all of you. None of you are human! There's nothing remotely human in this room! All there is in here are a class of demons!" She snarled. "If you keep clinging to that stupid belief, you doom yourself to never gaining full control. To tame your inner monster, you must cast out what makes you weak. You must throw away your humanity." _Easy for her to say,_ I thought bitterly. It didn't put her in agonizing pain to accept the monster. It didn't burn her bones or give her nightmares. "I know this seems hypocritical coming from me but unless you do that, you're only going to end up hurting those you care about." _Those I care about? _As if. I never really cared about someone aside from Moreau and the priests at the monastery for the past four years, and I doubted I'd see them again. She paused, and I looked to the side to see Noel arguing with the same girl as before. "And you need to learn to work together!" She snapped, making them jump. "You cannot rely upon me in this battle; I have to save my children. You must rely upon each other. Which is why we're going to do a little trust building exercise." Fissures appeared on the ground by my feet, and I saw myself standing next to Drake.

"What's going on?" Drake and I muttered at the same time. Shadows crawled from the walls, gagged me, and stuffed plugs in my ears. I looked to the side, and Drake was also gagged, but only a blindfold covered his eyes.

"Welcome to the _Labyrinth des Wahnsinns_. In other words, "the maze of madness"." I looked at the dark, foggy paths that stretched almost endlessly before me. "In this maze, you will encounter things that have driven many of those who have dared tread its foggy pathways to insanity. Those of you who can still see must guide the other who cannot. But you cannot speak to them; you must guide them through touch." Despite my gag, I screamed protestations at her, which she waved off. "Enough! Be wary of the amount of noise you make, for creatures patrol this maze that even many demons would not dare to encounter. They will not bother you if you work together to remain quiet. Make your way to the centre of the maze. If you are caught, I will know and send in a familiar to get you out. Now, the pairs are as follows; Autumn and Noel..."

I almost laughed at the screams coming from both of them.

"Drake and Cassandra, Sachi and Takao, Saturn and Emiko, Kasai and Yuki, Hotomi and Ron, Meiko and Amixtri, Ame and Megumi, Eve and Gen, Kaito and Eda." She waited as some murmurs emerged from the remaining pairs.

"Alright, that's good. Trust me, I'm a master pickpocket." He looked at me (well, tried to, at least) and nodded sarcastically.

"What about Leon?" Emiko called.

"He will stay out of there. I want to keep him as a trump card. Should things start to go wrong, I need the blue flames of our father Satan to scare Lilith." Astarte explained. "Now, Begin!" The walls behind us suddenly moved forward, forcing us to the first intersection for their pathway. Growls echoed from both sides, even through my blindfold, but I didn't see anything when I looked to the left. I led him that way for about twenty feet, when he stopped me, and turned me to the right. His steps were hardly dainty.

"Step lightly," I hissed. I felt hot breath raise goosebumps on the back of my neck, so I led us to take another right turn. We reached another intersection. This time, though it was silent to me, it was massive, a bird-like demon with hungry red eyes. A few more turns passed, each of us saving the other's ass a few times, before the walls dissolved, leaving only me, Drake, Emiko, and her partner remained. "Not bad, Nutso," I said, shaking her hand.

"Same to you."

"Up top, Fire Girl," said Drake holding up a hand for a high five, which I granted him. "You weren't kidding about the pickpocket stuff, were you?"

"Not even a little."

"Why are you all relaxing?! We need you lot ready! Keep training!" She snapped. I saw exorcists began to creep back in, only a few getting in before a jet of purple flames erupted near them. "I WARNED YOU!" They all backed away, with the exception of one with mocha skin and sun-colored eyes. I instantly grinned. So the drunken priest hadn't stiffed me, after all.

"Whilst I understand that you want them to be prepared, I feel you may be pushing them too hard, do you not agree?" Moreau asked her. she glared at him hard enough for all of us to shrink back.

"Who the hell do you think you are to question my technique?!" She snarled, flames starting to emerge.

"My name is Moreau. I actually came to borrow Cassandra so that I could see how she is doing." He said, her glare only intensifying.

"More to see if she agrees with you at me being an apparent "crazy fille", right?" I felt the skin drain from my face. Dammit, she heard us. "Yeah, I heard you two talking Cassandra but I chose not to say anything."

"Well, you cannot blame her really. Now, I understand that you are probably a bit upset at the moment..." Oh, no. This was not the time to open up _that_ can of worms.

"A BIT?! Did I just hear you right?! A FUCKING BIT?! I am not a bit upset! I am sickened to my very core with worry!" She yelled, rounding on him.

"And I understand but really, this is insane." Dammit. That was the _one _word you didn't use around Astarte.

"Insane? Really? Well, why don't I give you a little taste of what I go through daily and we'll see who's insane." Moreau stared then suddenly clutched his head and fell to the ground, yelling in pain. I ran to help who was probably my only ally in the world, but was pushed back by a black, scaly _wall_ of a demon.

_Do not interfere when my mistress issues her will and punishes those who wrong her child_ the dragon hissed. I stared with tears in my eyes as Moreau writhed as Astarte walked around him.

_Your mistress can take her will and shove it up her purple-tailed ass, _I thought at him savagely as it snarled.

"Acting like this and you've barely experienced anything. Let's add a little more." More screaming emerged. "And more." His screaming made me want to retch in a corner. This was _wrong_.

"Astarte! That's enough!"

"No! It's not Aniue! Not until he knows what it's like!" She snarled, looking even more demonic

"He will never know! Don't you understand? They can't cope with what you have to." Mephisto said.

"Fine! Then he will perish!" She snapped. A sob erupted from my throat.

"You can't!" I cried, hoping she would listen to me. I felt an irrational anger, my skin heating up. No. Not now. Not here.

"Astarte, I know you're upset about losing sight of Sora and Chikyuu, but we'll get them back. We won't lose them." She spun around, expressing an emotion that was a cross between anger and sorrow.

"YOU KNOW I'M UPSET?! I'm not just upset Aniue! This is killing me."

"I know, I understand..."

"YOU CAN'T UNDERSTAND! I've already lost one child, I can't bear the thought of losing them as well." She said, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"What? There was a third?" I couldn't help but ask, staring in confusion, wondering once again how an insane demon could be twenty times the mother that my own was.

"A little girl. She looked exactly like me, just like how Sora looks like you Aniue and Chikyuu looks like Amaimon. But she was weak, she couldn't survive without me supporting her. She died in my arms. My heart broke that day with that loss, and was mended by Sora and Chikyuu. By being separate, my heart is breaking again." She said. The façade cracked, a worried mother losing her mind behind it.

"That's why you're so desperate to get them back." Rin asked. She nodded, fighting to bring her emotions back under control.

"Cassandra, you can go. In fact, I think all I can do is hope you lot will trust your demonic instincts to help you survive. And...to rely on me to get rid of Lilith." They all stared. "Despite what I previously said, I understand that I am asking too much too soon. So, I will need you lot to deal with any familiars she will summon. And I want you to distract them whilst Meiko uses a worm hole to get Sora and Chikyuu."

"Tomorrow, we will destroy that bitch once and for all." She said. "As a little incentive, if you survive and I get Sora and Chikyuu back, then...I will give you a day free from training and we'll have a party to celebrate when we get back to Japan." I couldn't help but laugh. This wasn't going to be like any raves or nightclubs I've ever been to, but it hit me. I wasn't going to be me tomorrow. I was going to be a mindless, soul-sucking, sadistic monster.

XXXXX

"Moreau, are you all right?" I asked at the bar he took me to as I downed a shot of whiskey.

"You can drink anyone under the table, can't you?" he asked, avoiding the question.

"Will you answer, or do I have to read you?" The trick to access enough of the monster just to read one's emotions took me months to master.

"You really are just like your father," he chuckled drunkenly. "John would always give those types of threats. Hell, you even look like him. Oh, how I miss my old friend. But, yes, I'm fine. It's nothing I haven't had to deal with before. As an exorcist, it's an occupational hazard."

"Tell me more about him."

"Your father? Let's see. He used to be married to a childhood sweetheart named Roxanne, but when he sold his soul and got possessed, he left her. He ran across the world for years, like you. I met him in Romania before you were born to take care of an Antichrist scare. Satan brought many of his sons, including Iblis and Astaroth. We went back to New Jersey together, and at a nightclub, he met a pretty girl who claimed she was eighteen with blond hair and brown eyes. Well, I'll spare you the dirty details from what he bragged."

"Where is he now?"

"Who knows? Maybe he's trying to find a way to regain his soul."

"There's no way to get rid of it, is there?"

"Of what?"

"The monster."

"Aside from going to churches every night or that pretty little amulet you're wearing, no, there's no surefire way to get rid of it."

"Figures." I looked up to the bartender. "Another round," I demanded.

**A/N: Please review!**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Not much to say besides that I DO NOT support alcohol abuse (I've seen enough of that to last a lifetime) and I only own Cassie.**

My head swam pleasantly from the wonderful whiskey I had shared with Moreau. Looking at his watch, he let out a tiny chuckle. "_Chere_, as wonderful as it was to share drinks with you and see how embarrassing it is to be drunken under the table by an eighteen-year-old, it is truly late. Here," he handed my flask to me. I hadn't even known it was gone. "A refill from your old friend. If you're going to be working with that nutcase, you'll probably need it."

"Wh-what time is it?" I asked drunkenly. The part with alcohol filling her brain didn't care, but the tiny logical part had insisted.

"About two in the morning," he shrugged. "I hope it won't take another two years for my friend to share drinks with me."

"If I get control by then, perhaps. Until next time, Moreau."

"Goodbye, Cassandra."

XXXXX

The dorm was the stereotypical setting for a horror movie when I stepped in—way too quiet for a place where twenty-some teenagers made their home. _I should really teach them how to break some rules,_ I thought as I crept through the door as silently as I could. However, to my dismay, the hinges were more than a little rusty so they creaked rather loudly as I staggered in. Trying to close the door gently, I heard someone clearing their throat. I turned around to see Astarte, who turned the light on, arms folded across her chest. I knew that look from when I took my old boyfriend out to a bar with fake IDs I made and his mother found out. It was the look of someone who was about to get the chewing-out of a lifetime.

"I was seriously only going to have one drink—" I began, stuttering over the words.

She raised a claw, "Before you try to explain, I am not up because I was waiting to scold you. I merely cannot sleep." She tapped the side of her head with her index claw. "They're being too noisy." _They? Don't tell me I have a schizo for a teacher._ "Oh yeah. I haven't told any of you about that yet. Well, you know I can say so easily about your "other sides"? Well it's because I don't just exist like this. There are three other versions of me that all exist. They are the Outcast, my angelic form and my true demon form. And they never shut up." _I know the feeling._ "They talk, well argue, constantly. That's what I forced Moreau to experience. Their constant arguing." She walked over to the counter where a glass stood with some sort of red fluid inside. "So how was your evening?"

"I forgot how amazing good whiskey tasted." Then my usual filter between brain and mouth shut down. "Why did you only mention the third child today?"

Astarte stiffened, and I immediately regretted asking that. It was obviously a touchy subject. "I never told anyone else because...Because I can't cope with the memory. Every time I talk about it, I see her face, remember the little smile she had right as she passed away. It's... it's so painful to see and I can't cope with the pain." She sighed and turned. "Tomorrow my familiars will gather you all and I will lead you to our battle with Lilith. I will explain my plan as soon as we are gathered. Now, go get some rest."

It was a big, no, _massive _'if', and I knew I was not going to enjoy the hangover I was going to have tomorrow. I seriously hoped that I was drunk enough that I'd still be drunk when I woke up.

Stumbling to my room, I noticed some of the doors open. It was a college dorm, and I remembered that if this hadn't happened to me, I'd be living it up at some small-time university, partying for free at frat parties and ditching classes the next morning.

When I reached my own room, I took off my jacket and boots, and laid down on my bed, waiting for the hell and nightmares to come.

XXXXX

My hopes of still being drunk when I woke up were crushed when I opened my eyes to a splitting headache because of the light. _Screw you freaking demon powers. I thought demons had healing shit. _Well, I just hoped there was coffee downstairs. Which, of course, proved to be in vain two painful minutes later. _Screw it,_ I thought, taking some of the painkillers without water.

Outside, we all waited for Astarte and one of the new kids elbowed me. "Hey. I'm Ron." He held out a hand.

"Just take that hand and shove it up your ass. God only knows what you probably do with it on a regular basis."

He whistled. "Well, _someone's_ hung over. You wouldn't happen to have anything on you, would you?"

I smiled a little. "You're the first person I know not to lecture me about drinking under age. Cassandra Martin." I held out the flask. "Only take a little. It's the good stuff."

He smiled a little, took a sip, and smiled appreciatively. "Thanks. You're friends with that guy that Astarte almost killed, right?"

"Yeah. Not sure why she felt the need to do that, though."

Astarte finally arrived, and created some holographic image for us. "The plan is as follows. I want those of you with familiars up here on this ridge." She pointed at the ridge. "Once the signal is given, you come in and attack any familiars she may have summoned. My familiars will know the signal and tell you when to attack as well as attacking with you. Those with elemental abilities, I want you lot to come up behind Lilith and attack her. Meiko and Leon, I want you two hidden amongst the rocks so that Meiko can create her worm holes and Lilith won't notice you. Specialized, I want you to attack from both the left and right. All except Cassandra, I want you to approach Lilith with me. The presence of a child of Zarathos will no doubt un-nerve her." I felt my bones burning just thinking about having to change again.

_Scared, little girl? _The other side asked maliciously.

_Shut up. Once this is all over, I'm going to find someone to get rid of you._

"Ok, you lot get going to your hiding places and wait for the signal. At least one of my familiars should be with you to show you when to attack. As for releasing your demonic sides, just reach into your soul and mind for that dark part that terrifies you and it'll respond. Now go!" Everyone took their places. "I suppose I should assume the proper attire." The clown and the punk/goth guy I kept seeing with her nodded. Flames emerged around her form, horns emerged on her head, and the whites of her eyes turned black. She turned to me. "It would be a good idea for you to change, too."

I took a deep breath. The start was always most painful. After you got rid of pain receptors, it dulled a little. I took a deep breath and accessed the other side, goading it out. Almost instantly, the pain began. I couldn't help but let loose a scream as my skin started burning off. I could literally see parts of it falling off whilst catching on fire.

"Are you okay? I could—"

"No!" In this stage, halfway between forms, the voices combined. "This is the worst part," I amended. True enough, the pain dulled the slightest bit while my soft tissue and muscles burned away. The last part was also pretty bad. My internal organs caught on fire (talk about heartburn), drying up, shriveling, and falling out. For some reason though, my clothes always stayed intact.

"No wonder you don't like changing. Let's go Tikbalang." She muttered, nudging him with her heels. Tikbalang whinnied and galloped off, a slightly smaller chimera following, stopping momentarily, motioning for me to mount it. When it galloped off, a queasy feeling entered my empty ribcage. _Don't look down. Don't look down. Don't look down. _I looked down. Holy freaking shit, that was high.

Touching down, I almost threw up; when I remembered I didn't have a stomach. _What? Is big, bad drinking biker scared of a little height?_ The other side asked mockingly.

"Remember. You're supposed to take care of the bitch's familiars. Use whatever means necessary."

I heard quiet conversation between Astarte and another demoness who I could only guess was Lilith.

The first familiar, a lion-like creature, approached me. _What is this? A girl, a mere child with the abilities of Zarathos? _I punched the thing, despite the painful contact with straight bone. It chuckled. _Well, obviously not with the all of the abilities of him, though. Are you, perhaps, one of his bastard children he allows to run all over the place?_

_You stupid bitch, _the other side growled. _If you'll just let me out, I can take care of this overcompensating bastard in three seconds flat._

I let out an internal sigh. _Fine. But only for the battle, and only on the beasts._ I could feel the grin from the other side as it took over. "You just ran out of luck, bub." With that, I lifted up the lion, and tossed it to the side, landing limply. I knew it was dead when I examined it, pulling out a claw. After leaving the lion's body, it grew in length and became wickedly sharp, the occasional flame running over it. With that, I seemed to go on a killing frenzy, whatever came near me was met with a knife in the eye socket, throat, or whatever similar vulnerable spot I saw. There was seemingly a body count accumulating. This wasn't lasting, though. After I killed the last thing, the adrenalin and the change left me, my organs growing back, followed by tissue, then skin, and finally hair. Half-consciously, I listened to their conversation.

"Your crime will not go unpunished. For the act of treason against your ruler, your punishment is the _cor devorantem_."

"That punishment was banned."

"For the use as a punishment for a none serious crime. For treason, it is acceptable and the only one worthy."

I was glad I lacked the strength to even stand or look up, as I heard sickening shredding, followed by screaming. Someone, and I suspected it was Astarte, was making an amusement park out of her nervous system. "You must now stand as witnesses to the final act of her punishment. To ensure she will never again return to repeat her offence, the heart of the traitor must be destroyed." I felt something, I don't know what, force my head up, as I saw her eat the mutilated demoness' heart, and a last, bloodcurdling scream broke through.

It was then that I lost it and collapsed. I felt someone pick me up. "Damn. You're hot. As in, you just burned my _hand_."

"Sorry," I made out weakly. "Who is it?"

"Who's the one who was missing a leg when you met him?"

I let out a shaky breath. "Drake. Sorry about burning you. It usually takes a while for me to get back to normal. Just give me the flask in my boot."

"Are you sure you should be boozing so soon?" I could hear the concern in his voice.

"The one without engravings on it. It's full of holy water and helps the human come out faster. Don't do anything, no matter how much I scream, though."

He reached in my left boot and pulled out the blank flask. Twisting off the cap, I took a small sip to chase away the remaining evil. To say it hurt on the way down was an understatement. Imagine chugging lava, and you have a good idea as to how much it hurt. I couldn't help but let loose a cry or two as it went down, but after that, I was almost fully recovered.

"Holy crap! Do you think you can spare some of that stuff?"

"Believe me when I tell you: I'm sparing you by keeping it to myself."

Astarte turned around, a genuine smile on her face (the first time I'd ever seen it). "All I can say to you is Arigato and that I'm proud of you lot. You just managed to hold your ground against the familiars of Lilith."

Beside me, Drake asked out loud, "You know what this means, right?" he looked at us and I realized what he meant.

"Party!" we all said in unison. (I just wanted to sleep first)

**A/N: Please review!**


	10. Shopping and Parties

**A/N: Not very good, but oh well. It explains why Cassie hasn't left yet or stayed in America during the visit.**

Now recovered, I joined in the 'celebration' halfheartedly, still bone-tired. I heard a branch snap, and I froze. Beside me, Drake muttered, "I thought we killed all her familiars."

_So did I._ If I let out the other side and went through all that pain when I didn't have to only to discover I didn't finish the job, I would be seriously pissed. More branches snapped. This thing must be massive.

Leon (the son of Satan) murmured "What is it? It sounds huge." His question was answered when I saw a pair of glowing yellow eyes appeared. My hand automatically went to the kitchen knife in my jacket. It wasn't much, but I'd take what I could get. More eyes opened, and now twelve pairs of eyes were staring at us. It was a stalemate, and the only question was who would move first. Out of the forest crawled a giant orange spider with three heads. Blood drained from my face when I saw massive mandibles snapping and dripping in front of us.

A feminine voice called, "Um, hello?" I looked around for the source (surely it couldn't be on top of that great brute). But there she was, astride the beast. She had long blond hair tied back with a red ribbon, yellow eyes that you couldn't look away from, and wore a blue dress that stood out against skin as pale as mine. Well, _she_ knew how to make an entrance. "Are you the demon princess Astarte?"

"I am. Though I am understandably confused as to how you know my name when I do not know yours little one." The demoness inched towards the (rightfully) suspicious spider.

"My name is Jenny Heartwood, but I prefer Jen. And I know about you princess from growing up in Gehenna. I remember clearly how great the realm was and is whilst under your rule. I recall how peaceful your reign as made our home. How your flames brought light to the darkness." Jen smiled and let out a small giggle. "But actually, I came here because I grew sick of the darkness that remained despite your flames Princess and I actually came to offer you my services."

"How so?"

"Well, I noticed that you have your two sons with you and I thought that maintaining an eye on them whilst performing your other duties would be difficult. Therefore, I propose to you Princess that I serve as the boy's babysitter for you, to ease the workload you already have." Did she _know _what she was getting into? I had only seen them a few times, but the one whom I assumed was the elder was a real troublemaker.

"You mean you are willing to work as their nanny?" Astarte asked. Jen nodded. "Well then I hold no issue with it. And I'm sure the boys will enjoy your company. However, I'm afraid that by joining us, you will now have to leave this forest and return to Japan with us." That reminded me that I was on my way back out of the sweet English-speaking homeland.

"I have no issue with that princess. I am honored that you accepted my offer." Jen bowed and the spider did as well. Astarte nodded and turned before leading the mismatched bunch away from the forest.

On the way back, Drake started, "You looking forward to the party?"

I shrugged. "Kind of. The real problem is that none of you guys probably know how to break some rules. Loosen up. Have a drink; take a smoke, that sort of thing. Well, I guess it's not really rulebreaking if I'm 18 and I smoke anymore."

Back at the American branch, Astarte conversed with the head briefly as I leafed through a copy of Dante's _Inferno_. I wondered which circle I'd be sentenced to when I'm gone. _Violence, probably, or maybe Heresy_.

When we boarded the plane (how rich was this clown douche, anyway?), I immediately blacked out, no dreams or anything, which wasn't surprising since I just changed a little while ago. My sleep was only interrupted when I felt a poking at my arm.

"Cass… Cassie… Hothead… Marti…"

That last one woke me up. "Marti? What the hell?!" I looked at the unapologetic Drake in front of me.

"Your last name is Martin. I just dropped the 'N'."

I shook my head drowsily. "Just… don't, okay? And why did you wake me up? Do you have any idea how hard it is to get a good sleep?" Still somewhat drowsy, I felt the wrongdoings of those around me, except for Drake, who for some reason, I drew a blank from.

"Sorry. I was just saying we're about to land. And what do you mean you can't sleep?"

"None of your business," I grumbled as we prepared to get off. I felt a slight burning coming from the amulet I was wearing. I wondered if it was normal. When we got off, we were introduced to two boys, one was feminine-looking with blue eyes and hair and introduced as Nao Mare, son of Egyn; the other was black-haired with blue eyes and two tails and introduced as Hikaru Dasai, son of a nightmare. Astarte led us away, muttering that she promised us the day off. When we walked through the door, we were suddenly back in True Cross Academy. Thank God for wormholes.

"You two actually arrived at a food time. You see, today as a reward for the group managing to hold their own against a high level demon the group gets to have a party. Which now, seeing as you are part of the group, you two will join as well." She turned to us. "You see the big mansion on top of the academy? Well, we'll have the party there. I will send my familiars to guide you to it when we're ready. I want you all wearing your best outfits." _Best outfit._ Yeah, that would be a little difficult for me—I've only had the clothes on my back for the last two years. She stopped me from heading back to the dorm by putting her arm around my shoulder. I saw brief flashes, suddenly—violet flames, blood everywhere. "But first things first, Cassandra, I'm taking you to get new outfits."

Wait, what? "Why?"

She shrugged. "As thanks. You managed to convince me to let you all rely on me for this battle as I was expecting too much of you too soon. Also, if I'm really honest, that outfit is starting to smell a little."

"You also made me change," I muttered under my breath. "And what do you expect? I haven't stayed anywhere more than a few days in two years." _Aside from the monastery, _I added silently.

Astarte stated. She stood to her full height and turned to Mephisto. She sidled up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Ne, Aniue? You know how you adore me, well...can I borrow some money?" she smiled up at him, a manipulative grin I've seen too many times, even worn.

"No," the clown muttered shortly

She frowned and pressed herself closer to him. "Please Aniue? I'll give you a reward if you do." She purred at him, nuzzling the curve where his neck met his shoulder. Okay. I did _not _need to see that. Now I had the feeling I needed to wash my eyes to get rid of the image, and my ears while I'm at it.

"...Damn you. Fine." He said. She let out a soft chuckle as he handed over the money.

She turned back to me. "Okay, let's go."

"Alright, was the prefix to porn really necessary? I could've taken some money."

"You're too young to be speaking of such things," she scolded, taking on a somewhat maternal tone. I found it amusing that another teenager was giving me a lecture.

"You obviously don't know how I grew up," I said with a small smile, remembering the good old days when I was human.

"I honestly don't know much about you lot," she admitted, "but you don't know much about me either."

"I wouldn't be so sure. I can sometimes read peoples' souls and see the wrongs they did while I'm human. I can safely say that you could be headed for any of the nine circles of hell if you were mortal, except for maybe gluttony."

"How do you know about the circles of hell?"

"Dante Aligheri's _Inferno_. There are nine circles to hell—Limbo, Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Anger, Violence, Heresy, Fraud, and Betrayal. I read it on my travels."

I bumped into one of the strangers in the street, hand finding the wallet he kept in his pocket. I held it up. "See? I told you we didn't need to worry about money."

The scolding look reappeared. "I may be a demon, but I know it's wrong to take what's not yours. Return it."

"Whatever." I got the stranger's attention. "Sir? You dropped your wallet."

"What? Oh my, it seems I'm getting even more scatterbrained. I'd lose my head if it wasn't attached." He took the wallet gratefully. "Thank you, Miss."

"You're a little too good at that thievery," she said disapprovingly.

"You do what you have to to survive. I'm only here for one thing, anyway, then I'm back to traveling."

"What's that?"

"Samael." A sour look appeared on my face. "The scumbag tricked Zarathos into coming to the worst parts of Earth and was driven insane, ultimately turning an angel into a demon, his slave. My moral compass may be out of whack, but I know that was wrong. He was the Spirit of Justice. Who knows? Maybe all the wars could've been stopped. Maybe the Holocaust wouldn't happen. So I'm going to meet him one day and hand his ass to him and make him lift my curse."

A look briefly crossed her face—shock, maybe, or fear—before she put it under control again. "No matter what, you can't go back to human. He could lift the curse on the Johnny fellow he's been making his host, but not you, since yours is genetic. When your father impregnated your mother, he passed on both sides, the human and the demon. So technically, the other side is the daughter of Zarathos, while you are the daughter of John. You'll never be human again, so there's no use in pestering Samael. And if he had never made Zarathos fall, you wouldn't have been born."

"You know as well as I do that he's the king of Magic as well as Time. He can do whatever he damn well pleases. As for not being born, that wouldn't be a bad thing." We reached the mall.

The first thing I did was went to the generic clothes store and picked up a few plain white t-shirts and pairs of jeans.

"Aren't you original?" she asked sarcastically.

"Like they say where I'm from, 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it'. But the jacket stays."

After that, she made me head to the expensive stores (places I could never really afford to go), where everything was brightly colored. "How about this?" she asked holding up a hot pink t-shirt with a plunging neckline.

"How about no." I picked up a black t-shirt with an anime character on it—with brown spiky hair kept out of his face with a red cloth, an open coat over a perfectly sculpted chest, and brown eyes. He didn't look too bad.

A few hours later we returned with a black bikini with some fire patterns on it (I don't know why I'll need it), a black leather miniskirt (very uncomfortable and bringing back strip club memories), jean shorts, jeans, t-shirts, tank tops with different patterns, and a pair of combat boots. Fortunately, she allowed me to keep my biker ones, though.

When we returned, I changed into the miniskirt and a gray tank top with a pattern of skulls. We were standing around when I migrated over to Drake and Ron, who instantly covered his nose.

"What? I'm not that bad."

"It's not you," he said, hand pinching the nose, "I can smell fear and distrust and you really reek of it."

"Because every girl loves hearing that," I said sarcastically.

"Sorry. I guess I have issues like that."

The door rang, and the pink-haired girl ran to answer it, knocking over the girl with horns in the process.

"So, can I call you Cassie? 'Cassandra' is really long and formal."

"I don't see why not. This idiot," I elbowed Drake in the gut, "calls me every name under the sun."

"It's good to know another American who's lived a normal life."

"Tell me about it. I can't stand hearing Japanese all day. It's driving me nucking futs." He laughed.

"Hey guys! Kitsune's here! It's party time!" Everyone appeared in a variety of party clothes and gathered in front of the multi-tailed fox.

"If you would follow me." He said before turning and leading them towards the large mansion that stood atop the academy. As we got closer, we heard music faintly, only select few words in my beloved native tongue. Kitsune led them to a large door and used his tails to knock. Movement sounded on the other side and the doors creaked open to reveal Astarte in her "party outfit". They all stared. The outfit consisted of a tight, corset style top with off the shoulder sleeves that ended at her elbow then a secondary part of the sleeves hung over her wrists, extending from just below her elbow. Her skirt was short at the front but extended to the floor at the back whilst her feet were covered by what appeared to be a shoe similar to a ballet pump with ribbons extending up to her knees. Damn. Was there anything she had that _wasn't _slutty?

"Ah, you're all here. Great, come on in you come." She stood to one side and they entered before stopping and staring at the room. It was huge, a chandelier providing the lighting. "We weren't really sure what to do for entertainment so we thought have the music playing and we set up a games console with a dance game for you." She explained. Everyone looked at it then began to separate out, and Drake, Ron, and I moved to take a seat and four others went to the games console where Amaimon stood, setting it up.

"So how _did _you grow up?"

"Well, my mom was a whore, literally, she worked at a strip club since she had to drop out of high school to have me, I obviously never knew my dad, but I grew up with regular visits there and the waitresses who were on break had to watch me, so I obviously didn't have the most wholesome upbringing. What about you, Drake?"

He offered a lost look and a shrug. "I honestly don't know. Aside from about 5 years ago to the present, I can't remember anything. Ron?"

"I'm not sure what there is to say. I grew up in the bad part of town, my dad brought me up till he died, and I didn't find out till recently that he was an exorcist who allowed himself to get possessed by a fear demon to do his job better. I didn't have the perfect friends; we'd all get stoned together or smoke. I definitely didn't get the perfect grades. I was just that stoner who sat at the back of the classroom."

We watched Astarte and Amaimon do a dance to the game in the center of the room as we sat in a comfortable silence.

**A/N: Please Review!**


	11. Worst Role Model EVER

**A/N: It's short, and not very good, but I had little to no ideas as to this chapter. I only own Cassie.**

"So you don't remember anything?" I asked Drake. "Did you try looking into things back in America?" he shook his head.

"What about you, Cassie? Ever going back?"

"To Camden? Hell no. To America? Probably. If not, I'd like to spend some time in Italy or—" I was cut off when the door opened.

I looked over to see the hottest guy I have ever laid eyes on cheerfully say, "Hiya, bitch," and punch Astarte in the face. It was official. I envied him. He and two others walked in.

"I think that was a bit harsh, Asmodeus," said the one on the left.

The hot guy—Asmodeus—glanced at him, snapping, "Shut up, Belial. You would've done the same. Belial put up his hands in surrender, and Astarte was back on her feet. _Luucy, you got some 'splaining to do,_ I thought with a small grin.

"What the fuck was that for?!" she asked angrily.

He pointed to Noel. "I want my daughter back. I'm taking her to Gehenna."

Drake snapped his fingers in front of my face. "Cass? Anybody home? You're staring."

That snapped me out of my man-induced trance. Snapping the knife out of my belt, I swung it quickly, slashing his arm. "Don't interrupt me."

Drake, holding the bleeding limb, glared at me. "What was that for?"

"I was enjoying the view," I said matter-of-factly, shrugging.

He let out a martyred sigh. "_Women…"_

"Tell me about it," said Asmodeus, who had suddenly appeared. He flashed a grin at me. "Hey."

The primary functions of my brain shut off and I felt the gigantic flirt I wasn't in two years come out to play. Was this some sort of effect he had on girls? "Hey," I grinned back, "And just to let you know, I'm legal," I said, trailing a finger down his chest.

"Well, in that case…"

"Asmodeus!" Noel yelled, "What the hell are you doing here?! Go away! As for you," she turned to me, "What's wrong with you?! You were all over him!"

I put on a theatrical, weepy pose. "I am but the product of a depraved upbringing." I looked back at Drake. "Wanna play? There are a couple spots open." He shrugged and we put on the Wii controllers. I browsed through it until I found one I actually liked.

"The _Final Countdown_?" he asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow at me.

"Don't tell me you never—" I caught something out the corner of my eye. The little girl I distantly remember introducing herself as Jenna a few minutes ago reached up and groped Astarte. The blood drained from my face. "Oooo-kay," I said, pushing the play button.

The first thirty seconds of the song were entertaining, watching Drake, who was lost, but seemed to be having fun. And then I was tackled by a 9-year-old wrecking ball.

The four of us glared at her before Meiko lost it. "Why did you push us?"

"We were on it... you could've had the next turn."

Okay, these kids were being way too nice. Standing up and dusting myself of, I practically yelled, "What the hell?!"

Her eyes widened as she bowed furiously in front of me. "Please forgive me! I'm an impulsive and annoying girl and for that I dearly apologize and I wish to bow to your every command!"

"What the hell…?" was the only thing I could manage to say. Drake just stared, mouth gaping.

"Please! I would do everything asked of me! I will even call you sensei!" the small girl begged.

"Umm…"

"I will do everything asked of me!"

"Uh… okay… I guess." _As long as she doesn't grope me,_ I added silently.

"Weird," Meiko said.

"You wouldn't understand," she said with a small pout.

"Huh?"

She yelled, "When you find somebody special, you'll understand!"

_Somebody special? I do_ not_ roll that way_. "What?

Drake was the one who said what everyone was thinking. "You're a strange kid."

This set her off on a tangent. _Ugh…_ I internally groaned, taking out a cigarette and lighter. Poor Drake was now apologizing and I heard Jenna say the words that I never expected to come out of a 9-year-old's mouth.

"You know girls want to be on top sometimes!" That set me off on a fit of laughter, though that phrase made me lose a couple of boyfriends.

Meiko elbowed me and pointed at the now-crying girl. "You're her sensei, handle it."

"Poor kid chose the worst role model in history," Drake said with a small smile.

"Do you want me to pull an Astarte?" he knew I wouldn't do anything. The banter was just our thing. I looked to the side, only to see Meiko was already gone. I sighed. We have to comfort the little brat, don't we?"

"Be nice!" Drake scolded.

"Sorry. I don't exactly _know_ the kid."

"But, yeah, we have to go up there."

When we got back, I saw Jenna hugging Meiko, calling her "Big sister".

I don't hate you," Drake said, hands in pockets.

"You don't?" she looked up with big, watery eyes.

"No. I actually kind of like you."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Thank you!" she said, looking at all of us. I started to laugh, but when Meiko glared, I thought better of it.

"See? I told you," Meiko looked down at her with a small smile.

"I… I… I…" Jenna began, a blush coloring her face.

"Spit it out," I said, not unkindly.

"I love you too!" she ran and hugged Drake.

Later, when everyone was disbanded, we walked back to the dorm. "First, we need some rules if I'll be your sensei."

She nodded enthusiastically. "Anything!"

"First," I put up my index finger, "you will not grope me. Ever. Second, don't touch my booze, pills, cigs, or knife. Third, never, _ever_, touch my motorcycle."

"You have a motorcycle?" she asked, eyes lighting up. "That's so cool!"

"Yes, and it's off limits. Fourth, be nice to Drake."

"The hot blond guy who I yelled at?"

"Yeah. Between you and me, he's kind of a wimp and doesn't like getting yelled at. Fifth, you're going to listen to me and follow orders. Got that?"

"Of course!"

Hmm… maybe having a little pupil wouldn't be so bad after all.

**A/N: Please Review!**


	12. Shrouded Memories

**A/N: Well, here's a longer one to make up for the last mini chapter. I only own Cassie.**

Dawn.

The first rays of sunlight filtered through my window and I automatically got up, put on my boots and jacket, and—_oh._

I let my head slam against the wall, realizing that I'd have to get a new routine in play. Silently as I could, I opened the door to see silent halls. Gathering up a change of clothes, I snuck in the girls' shower room, where I hoped there'd be hot water.

The plumbing gods seemed to be in a good mood, seeing as warm water assaulted my form as I stepped in. I almost took off the amulet, but I remember changing in broad daylight with no warning—something I'd prefer to keep from happening again.

Done with my shower and stepping into my clothes, I returned to my room to see a tiny black-haired Jenna examining my copy of _Paradise Lost_. "What are you doing here?!" I demanded, snatching the volume away before she had a chance to damage it.

"I was up," she said as if it explained everything.

"What did I say about touching my stuff?"

"You only limited it to the alcohol, pills, cigarettes, knife, motorcycle, and boobs. Nothing about books. And this one is confusing. Are you a virgin?" she asked out of nowhere.

"No…"

"Okay then… how many guys have you slept with?" she seemed deep in thought.

How the hell was I supposed to keep track?! Was she including my mom's customers who overstayed their welcome? Or one night stands? Was it just boyfriends she was counting? "Umm… a lot…"

"Then how many girls have you slept with?"

_What was with this kid?_ "None. And what's the big idea, anyway?"

"Just getting to know you." She put on a show of innocence with big, soulful eyes. I almost rolled my own.

"Jesus _Christ_…" I grabbed her by the wrist, found Drake's room, and knocked impatiently until a tall the tall blond answered the door, with a serious case of bedhead.

"Do you have any idea what time it is?" he asked drowsily.

I slapped him. "Drake, focus. What do kids like?"

"How'm I s'possed to know? What did you like as a kid?"

"In case you don't remember, I didn't exactly _have _a normal childhood."

"Just ask her what she likes."

"But—" The door was slammed in my face. I bent down to her height. "Okay, kid. Waddya like?" Her eyes brightened and she reached up before I swatted her hands away. "Rule Number One."

"Sorry." She got cheerful again suddenly. "But I like anime!"

"Okay then." I led her to the living room, where Mephisto kept a giant collection of the stuff. "Pick your favorite."

She grabbed a DVD and I put it in, not caring to look at the characters or the title. _For every five minutes of anime you watch, you lose a brain cell_, said my old friend, probably the only straight edge in the entire town. I leaned back and relaxed, hoping she wouldn't bug me.

_A teenage boy, about 17, with brown hair that fell over his eyes smashed an empty bottle, cutting his hand. "Do it. Save his life," he demanded of a shadowed figure. All I could see of him were luminescent green eyes and a gleaming smile. He flung his injured hand, blood spilling on a paper with an indefinable darkness coming off of it. I was screaming at him. I didn't know why._

"_Don't do it! Don't be an idiot! Do you have any idea what you're getting into?!" I ran for him, but strange arms made of black smoke held me back. This wasn't the first time I had the dream. I've had it quite a few times over the past couple years, but never understood what it meant. Both figures were vaguely familiar, but now the grinning one was even more so. _

"Sensei?" I heard a childish voice call, and something poke my face.

"What?"

"The girl with the weird horns says that Astarte is here."

I sighed, getting up. As I strode to the door, Jenna followed, skipping behind me.

I managed to only catch part of the sentence. "… I thought we could, well, go to the beach."

"The beach?!" we all yelled. They were excited; I was dreading it. Sun, water, sand in the unmentionables… _So that's what the bikini was for._

I retreated back to my room and put on the swimsuit, wishing I had gotten a one-piece instead. Due to my time on the road, I was sickly and anorexic-looking, because all the food I had was a value menu at a fast-food restaurant once a day. In fact, now that I looked at my reflection, I could count the bones in my ribcage. And not to mention how pale I was. I put on one of the tank tops and pairs of shorts as a cover-up. As per Astarte's instructions, we all met at the entrance to the academy, where Jenna managed to find me.

"Why don't you take off your necklace?"

I sighed. _The kid was going to find out sooner or later…_ "You're an exorcist, right? What do you know about Zarathos?"

Her normally cheery expression darkened. "That no one crosses him and gets away with it. That seeing him is a death sentence."

"And now you know he's my father." Her eyes nearly bugged out of her skull. "See, most half-breeds have control over when they change. It's one of the basics. But I'm not. So Astarte gave me this to keep it away, so I don't hurt any more people. But if you ever see me losing control, promise me that you'll run away as fast as you can."

"I… I promise."

"How are my favorite ladies of the bunch?" Drake, who was now awake, snuck up on us. Or, me rather, since Jenna didn't seem shocked in the least.

I jumped out of my skin. "Jesus Christ, Drake! Care to warn a girl?"

He rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly sheepish. "Sorry. So what were you telling our resident pervert?"

"Just about safety precautions if I were to slip."

"Oh. Seeing your other side was not a good time."

"_Being _the other side is an even worse time," I shot back. When I saw he backed away, I felt kind of guilty. "Sorry. That's… kind of a touchy subject for me."

I felt a tap on my shoulder and saw the girl who I recognized as Yuki. "Watch this," she said with a small smile as she took the beach ball she was holding and threw it hard at her head.

"Yuki-san! I know you don't like my father but for Satan's sake get over it!" She yelled. Yuki merely glared at her. "Alright everyone into the vehicle." I was expecting a yellow school bus to pick us up, or maybe a coach bus, but what we got was way better. A long limo pulled up and I gawked at it. I had hardly ever seen one, except for when the gang lord's son would rent one to impress his lay of the day on homecoming. "What? I'm a queen. I don't do minibuses."

As we piled in, Drake and I found a seat in the back next to Ron. "Hey," he said with a nod

"About time you recognize us," I said jokingly, "After the way you up and left."

"I could not handle the awkward of a perverted nine-year-old girl groping my teacher. It was kind of scarring."

"Did someone say 'Perverted nine-year-old'?" Jenna said, scrambling in so that she could sit next to me. _This kid…_ "Your eyes look weird. You have weird friends, sensei."

"Sensei?" he mouthed raising an eyebrow.

"Long story," I mouthed back, shaking my head.

He looked at me up and down. "And I thought _I _was skinny and pale."

"Spend two years with one meal a day and spending your days on the road and see how pale you are."

Drake busted in. "So why aren't you excited to be going to the beach?"

"I haven't been to the beach for four years on a trip with my boyfriend. And when that happened, I spent the next two weeks with sand where there should never be sand. And I burn like a ginger."

"Where was that?"

"Jersey shore. Where else?" I heard something. "What's that?"

"I think Astarte is trying to start karaoke."

I bent over the back of the seat in front of me. "Astarte, care to let me try one?" A fox tail reached back as I took it and scrolled through it. _J-Pop, J-Pop, J-Pop, what's this?_ I grinned. About time I taught these kids what good taste is. "_Don't want to hear about it Every single one's got a story to tell. Everyone knows about it From the Queen of England to the hounds of hell And if I catch it coming back my way I'm gonna serve it to you__And that ain't what you want to hear But that's what I'll do And the feeling coming from my bones Says find a home" __Ron, recognizing the song, even sang along before…_

_"__'Cause we all just wanna be big rockstars And live in hilltop houses driving fifteen cars The girls come easy and the drugs come cheap We'll all stay skinny 'cause we just won't eat And we'll hang out in the coolest bars In the VIP with the movie stars Every good gold digger's Gonna wind up there Every Playboy bunny With her bleach blond hair And we'll hide out in the private rooms With the latest dictionary and today's who's who They'll get you anything with that evil smile Everybody's got a drug dealer on speed dial Hey hey I wanna be a rockstar Hey hey I wanna be a rockstar" __Meiko and Leon sang happily. It wasn't as good as 'Seven Nation Army', but it was tolerable. Then something weird came on and I saw Jenna singing it. __Of course, she would sing that._

_Now on the beach, where the sun blinded me, Astarte and Mephisto changed back. _"Go get changed and meet us at the beach. Girls, I'll send Shabriri to ensure none of the boys can watch you getting changed." Right. Just trust that teenage boys won't sneak up on a bunch of girls getting changed. You'd think that the queen of an entire realm would be smarter than that. "Don't worry. Shabriri is blind. He can't see you. But he'll be able to smell and hear the boys." With that, we headed off into separate tents. Changing was simple for me, since I just had to take off the cover-up, but I heard a whistle from near the flap to the tent…

There he was. A pink-haired exorcist with a perverted grin on his face. I think his name was Shima or something like that. All the more innocent girls took their towels in an attempt to cover themselves and screamed. I had no such inclination. I picked him up by the front of his shirt and pulled him to eye level. "Umm… hi?"

I just glared. "Bad choice, asshole. Real bad choice." I tossed him out the tent and to the bat demon guarding us. I heard him scream. He screamed like a girl. When we all ventured out I saw Meiko go to Mephiso, who was holding out a giant article of clothing. I laughed a little. Typical dad behavior. Even though I never really _had_ a father…

Astarte gathered us around two beach volleyball courts. "Now, for this exercise I thought I'd try something different." Her tail moved from behind her to show two volley balls. "You lot are going to work in teams and play volleyball. This will build communication between you and teamwork as well as overall fitness." She threw a ball at me and one at Leon.

"Teams are as follows; Team one is captained by Cassandra and consists of Drake, Hotomi, Megumi, Eda and Kaito. You are on the left court on the side furthest from me. You are playing against team 3, captained by Nao and consists of Jenna, Ron, Yuki, Saturn and Autumn. You are on the opposite side. Your referee is Bon and Yukio." As the groups moved off, she turned to the remainder. Jenna just stared at the two, both shirtless.

She waved her hand to let them go. They took their places on the courts. "Begin" With that, the games began.

The members of team one huddled in together. "Right, Megumi, you should be at the back as you're quite strong. Eda, you join her but stay on the right side whilst Megumi goes on the left." I ordered.

"What about me?" Hotomi asked. I nodded, a plan forming in my head.

"You and Drake will take the centre back whilst Kaito and I stay towards the front." She said.

"So, we strike fast and we strike hard?" Megumi asked. Another nod was the answer. They all nodded and broke the huddle before taking their positions. On the other side of the court, they had arranged themselves so that Nao, Ron, Yuki and Saturn were at the back whilst Jenna and Autumn took up positions near the front. I held the ball ready to serve as Yukio blew the whistle he had. She threw the ball in the air and smashed it over the net towards the space just beside Yuki. Nao dived to the side and hit the ball back up into the air.

Autumn!" He yelled as he hit the ground. Autumn nodded and leapt up, smacking the ball with an open palm.

"Megumi!" Drake yelled at to the muscular girl who struck it back over the net. It was hit back by Jenna who jumped up high enough to catch it by standing on Nao as he got up. The ball came spinning back towards Kaito who hit it back with such force that it created a small crater where it landed just out of the reach of Yuki.

"Point One goes to Cassandra's team." Yukio stated. We all cheered. Good starts usually meant good finishes. I noticed, however, that Nao's team was in a huddle now.

"Okay, we're going to have to tighten up. They're planning something and I don't like it."

True to my prediction, they got the next two points, as our defense was getting sloppier. "Huddle up." as we all gathered, I said, "They're putting holes in our defense. We've gotta patch them up. Hotomi, back up a little. You too, Drake. Katio, move up. Alright, let's get back those points!" As we all returned to our places, the game resumed. I won't bore you with the details, but we won by just one point.

"God, that was close," said a panting Drake, hands on his knees as he tried to recover. "Care for a dip?"

I shrugged. "Why not?"

As we climbed into the frigid water, Drake shivered. "I'm outta here!" he said before I held him back.

"Man up. This feels amazing." To me, it did, at least. The fire in my bones was somewhat quenched, and I felt like a normal teen swimming.

"Uh, Cass?" he pointed to the water around me.

"Oh…" the water was steaming up around me as I blushed. "It's a body temperature thing."

"How come you didn't invite _me?!_" cried Jenna as she swam up to us. "And why is the water all warm here?"

I grinned. "I'm just hot like that." Drake poked my shoulder and pointed to the beach. A wolf with bat wings ran at the other students. "I think we should get out now." Once we reached the shore, we were surrounded by Astarte's familiars, where we could hardly see or hear anything. "What's going on?" I asked.

"Revenge-set demon who's mad at Astarte for the whole Lilith thing," said one of the students.

"Why do you keep calling her that?" Eric suddenly asked. "Even we exorcists know that Satan chose her as his heir. She is the rightful queen. Why can't you accept that?"

"Astarte doesn't seem to have a problem with _him_ following us around," I muttered under my breath, remembering the tormented look on Moreau's face.

"My mother has bore several of Satan's children. Yes, they may not have been the eldest or the strongest, but because she held his favor, we believed that when he was choosing an heir it would be one of her sons. But because she." She pointed at Astarte. "Was born before the heir was chosen and looks so much like the one who bore her, she was chosen. She stole it from my brethren." She snapped. She let out a roar and ran towards Astarte. What happened next, I don't know since the view was blocked.

"I didn't kill your mother in cold blood," Astarte insisted. "She went after my sons and wanted to kill me. She wouldn't listen to reason and performed treason. That is the only reason why I performed that punishment and killed her. Because she was a traitor against the crown and was determined to kill me and then my sons. I only acted as a mother should." The rest of the conversation was lost from the two running out of breath.

Until Rin yelled, "But Mephisto!" the demon, Mikzuki, simply laughed.

"Is that the name you're going by now? I so prefer your real name." Mikzuki looked up at them. "Samael."

Everything came crashing down. The nightmare—_no_, the _memory_ played again, with all the blank spots filled in.

_A 17-year-old, with brown hair that fell over his gray eyes, a mirror of my own, smashed an empty bottle, cutting his hand. "Do it. Save his life," he demanded of a figure who was previously cloaked by darkness. It fell away, showing a clown in pink, white and purple, with green eyes and a harlequin grin. He flung his injured hand, blood spilling on a paper with an indefinable darkness coming off of it. _The contract,_ I realized with horror. That's why I was screaming at him. He was selling his soul._

"_Don't do it! Don't be an idiot! Do you have any idea what you're getting into?!" I ran for him, but strange arms made of black smoke held me back. _

"_Your father's name was Johnny Blaze. He was a stunt biker when he was younger, until his father got sick. To save his life, he sold his soul to Samael. Not much longer later, his father died during a stunt. The first several years passed without occurrence. He married, he became a father. Until the Trickster had need of him." _Moreau's slurred words entered my memory.

**A/N: Please Review!**


	13. Of Revelations and Confessions

**A/N: Yep, another long chapter. A lot happens here, and a lot more to explain. So, enjoy! And I only own Cassie.**

The demoness Mikzuki smiled innocently as the gravity of the lies hit me. Was it the first time I was lied to? Not by a long shot. What made it bad was that the one lying to me was one of the few people I've met in my life who even bothered to pretend giving half a shit about me. I turned my eyes from Astarte to Mephisto… no… Samael. Knowing his identity made the instincts stronger. Half of me wanted to run. Run like I've been doing the last two years, to where he would never find me. The other part wanted me to take off the accursed amulet, change, and give him a beating he'd feel for centuries. But my own body was frozen. Frozen in shock. Frozen in sheer terror of the demon standing before me.

With a cruel smile on her face, she asked, "Did I just let your secret slip?"

Astarte glared at her, and even _I _wanted to step back. "Give me one good reason I shouldn't send you straight back to Gehenna with your tail on fire."

Rin stepped between them and crouched down. "I thought you didn't want to risk any more bloodshed," he said, concern plain on his face, before sparing a confused glance beyond the two to me.

"If it is preventable. I'm willing to make an exception here though," she snarled viciously at Mikzuki, hatred in her eyes.

Rin's eyes lit up with an idea. "Let her stay then. You could use her to show how successful the training of those of Gehenna can be." He seemed awfully content with himself for that idea, but I remembered hearing back at the monastery that he wasn't nearly the thinker his brother was.

Astarte, unconvinced, let out a martyred sigh. At length, she reluctantly agreed. "A trial period. That's all. If she tries anything, I'm going to let Ben and Eric deal with her." Rin nodded rapidly, apparently taking what he could get. "I suppose we need to explain ourselves, don't we?" some nodded a little, while I just glared. "You weren't ready to know the truth. Our plan was to tell you eventually but when Cassandra turned up, we couldn't tell you." The class turned to me, expecting an explanation, but I had a feeling that whenever I opened my mouth, the only thing that would come out would be profanities and words of hatred.

"Why couldn't you tell the rest of us even with Cassandra here?" Saturn asked, and other students nodded in agreement.

"Because of whom Cassandra's father is. Cassandra is the daughter of Zarathos, a fallen angel who was tricked by Samael. His hatred for my brother runs in her veins. It burns in the hearts of all his children. If she had known before we had given her the pendant, none of us would be standing here." Astarte explained lamely. "In order to protect you all, we hid this from you." It was quite possibly one of the worst excuses I've heard to date. She became desperate now. "It's not like we've never hidden our identities before. Loki, Geb, Nephthys. You name the god or goddess; it's actually been one of us. It's just part of a demon's nature to lie." _And it's in an angel's nature to be honest, _I thought frigidly. _So which world do you walk in?_

Jenna, from her place huddled beside me, said quietly, "Well I never hid anything from anyone."

"Well you're what? Nine years old? What would you ever gain from hiding anything from anyone?! Stupid child!" She snarled and the façade of control cracked. Not so much as cracked, now, as split in two as some of the purple flames that exorcists saw in their nightmares escaped.

A woman rushed over and was now kneeling on Astarte's stomach, a gun pointed at her head. "Don't you dare try to harm my master. I don't care how powerful you are. You harm a hair on her head, I'll tear you apart." Astarte turned savage as she used her tail to grab the woman's wrist to pull her down as she headbutted her. The strange woman rolled over and Astarte began trying to tear into her before Amaimon and the traitor against Heaven pulled her off.

Mikzuki chuckled lightly as she stood before us, ready to give a speech. "You see, that is your teacher's true nature. An animalistic chimera that holds no sense of loyalty." She said. She leant forward, close to Astarte who had let her anger take over. "Aren't you? You're a monster." Astarte went to grab her, pulling Samael and Amaimon forward slightly. The class backed up as her flames struck randomly. The woman meanwhile, turned to Jenna and bowed before her.

"Are you alright Master?" She asked her. Jenna nodded. The woman looked to me, now. "You bear the mark of places better left alone," she said, pity in her eyes.

"I am fine Sayomi." She said. When she spotted the class staring at her servant she realised. "This is Sayomi Matsumoto. My loyal familiar. She's a top class succubus." She explained. Sayomi nodded towards them, ignoring how every male was now staring at her tiny black bra that barely covered anything and the short black skirt that left little to the imagination. Surprise, surprise. Another reminder of how—and where—I grew up. A growl disturbed them and they turned to see a large number of exorcists along with Ben and Eric had gathered. The Paladin walked towards where Astarte was pinned to the ground by the earth.

"So your mask of control has slipped demon?" he asked with a small but ruthless grin. He asked. She snapped at him, her flames lashing at his legs in anger as she strained against the bindings. The Paladin sighed and looked at Samael. "Use that punishment." He ordered. The scumbag shook his head.

"I will not do that to her. Not in front of Sora and Chikyuu." The Paladin glanced at the two boys and gestured for two female exorcists to escort Jenny and the boys away. When they were forced to move, the boys growled to her in a strange language I'd never heard before. "Oh, do shut up. You'll see them once we're done."

"How did you know this had happened?" Ron demanded. Nao and some others moved forward, determined to get an answer. Despite the behavior they had just witnessed, she was still their teacher. I hung back. No matter how much I would want to forgive her, I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

"Eric over there informed me that the limitations on her abilities were starting to slip. She can't be allowed to lose control again. The world does not need another incident like her last loss of control."

"_Why don't you like Astarte?" I asked a drunken Moreau. His face fell_

"_During the Dawn of the Purple Flames, my brothers, both exorcists and priests, were ruthlessly slain by her. Though I hold no grudge against half-demons, there are some things that cannot be forgiven._"

The Paladin approached me. "Give me the bottle you have with no markings." He must've seen how shocked I was. "Moreau told me about it after some, ahem, _gentle persuasion_. Now give me the bottle."

"Go to hell," I spat. "You'd think you'd be a little more loyal to the loyal under you than that."

He seemed amused as he tore it from my grip. "You seem to have inherited your father's fire. See that you keep it under control." He unscrewed the cap as he walked to the teacher, now impaled brutally by spikes. "This should bring you back under control," he said as he poured the holy water over the wounds.

I looked on as she screamed inhumanly. Moreau always warned me about letting the stuff get in my bloodstream, but I never really paid much attention to it until that moment. She tried to force herself off the spikes but the wounds had healed around them.

"STOP!" Meiko yelled, the class trying to surge forward but being held back. They looked towards Amaimon for assistance but he was being held at bay by a barrage of blessed weapons. Even Samael was being held back by chains. The Paladin turned to them.

"Why? It is our job to eradicate threats to Assiah and humanity." I knew it _was_, I've been more or less living with exorcists for two years, but this was crossing a line.

"But you're killing her!" Saturn yelled.

He merely laughed. "That'll be the day. She's had every blessed defence we have against demons thrown at her and still she stands here. Even when she was younger and stabbed with a blade of blessed silver, or having ingested large amounts of holy water on several occasions, she still stands."

"But...this is inhuman," Noel said, fear for her teacher written all over her face.

"They're right, you're going too far this time Engel!" Shura growled, sword at the ready.

"But you all witnessed the dawn of the purple flames first hand did you not?" He asked the older class. "You all know exactly what she is capable of doing. What atrocities she can perform without a hint of morale or shame. What acts she engages in on a regular basis and still you would stand by her?" He asked them. Then it hit me. _He doesn't hate her, he fears her. The poor bastard is scared stiff of her, so he does whatever he can to show his power over her while she's here in Assiah._

The words were poisoned honey, finding their way into my mind. My mind lowered its defenses enough for the other side to continue building doubt. _Think of how she lied to you. Think of the innocent blood on her hands. The blood of children yet to say their first word. The blood of Moreau's brothers. The blood of all those she murdered and didn't lose sleep over. Do you still stand by her?_

"Sayomi, sort this out." Jenna said simply.

"Of course, my lord and master." Sayomi bowed before sneaking up beside the Paladin as the exorcists watched the torture and holding her gun against his head. "My master wants you to let her teacher go."

"And if I refuse?" The Paladin asked.

"You'll find out why they call me the reincarnation of wrath when I paint these cliffs with your brains." She growled. The paladin chuckled before holding his hand up and signalling for the exorcists to back off. He looked at Samael.

"You can release her." he muttered something I couldn't comprehend and the spikes vanished, leaving her collapsed, panting in shallow, desperate breaths. Blood poured from each of the wounds, and I saw it as something of a miracle she was still alive. "The Vatican wants to talk to her. As soon as she is able to stand alone and talk, bring her to them."

We all crowded around her. "It hurts," she said between pained breaths.

"Is she…" Noel began to ask.

"No. She's not dead, simply passed out," Amaimon said, blue gaze never leaving the broken, bleeding form of his wife.

Mikzuki yawned and clasped her hands behind her head. "Kinda ironic, really. She's trying to train this bunch and loses control herself so easily."

"You made her lose control by winding her up. You know exactly how temperamental those other sides can be. And calling them a chimera when they are separate is guaranteed to piss them off," Amaimon almost yelled.

Rin once more formed a wall between feuding demons. "It's not all her fault. For a queen of an entire realm, she should have much better control over herself." Before an all-out fight could break out, Astarte started heaving and coughed up a black glob.

Yukio pushed aside the other two and examined the mass. "The holy water's gotten into her body. Looks like only a small amount did though. She should heal so long as she gets peace and quiet."

_Damn… that could be me… _I thought, remembering Moreau's warnings about letting it directly in my bloodstream, but I never knew the results would be that horrific.

"The hell is it?" asked Drake.

"If I'm correct, it is burned flesh." Yuki answered. "Demon flesh can't cope with holy water and burns. It's like throwing acid on a human." Drake stared at it, then at me.

"I've reconsidered my asking about having some of that holy water."

"Shiemi-san, will you go and inform Jen to bring the boys back to the academy, we will take Astarte to the medical wing and leave her to heal." Mephisto said. "You will all be informed of when your class will resume, but for now...you are temporarily free from expectations and training. If you want to continue training, I will have a room set aside for you." He explained to the class. As both he and Amaimon took her away, we watched silently.

When we returned to the campus, I packed my bag and went to my motorcycle. As I mounted it, I caught sight of Drake.

"Where are you going to go?'

"Does it matter? Didn't you hear him? He's not sure if Astarte's gonna get better, and I'll be saved before I'm caught dead in the same place with Samael any longer than necessary. Drake," I sighed. "I know you trust really easily, and if Astarte trusts him, it's good enough for you, but you have to understand. He's awful. He's the scum of the Earth and deserves to be trusted as far as a human can throw an elephant. But, even if she does get better, I'm not sure I'm coming back."

"Where will you go, then?"

"I've lived the last two years like this. It won't be a problem going back. Do me a favor?" he nodded. "Tell Jenna for me."

Just as I left the gate, I was approached by Samael. "Haven't you caused enough suffering?" I asked frigidly.

"Cassandra, you don't have to leave. We have plenty of room at the dormitory for you. You don't have to go back to… however you're living."

"You know what Samael? Why don't we play a game of 'fuck yourself'? You go first." At his glare, I sighed. "Usually, I can be pretty forgiving. But there are some sins that can't be overlooked. You pulled an angel from heaven. Can you imagine the wars that could've been stopped? The lives that could've been saved? But you just _had_ to have a new pet. So, I'm not sure if Astarte's going to recover, and frankly, I don't really care, given the lies she's told and the lives she's taken. The innocent blood on her hands…" I shook my head. "But you won't see any more of me than you'll have to. So with that, I say, 'Yippee ki yay, mother fucker'." I flipped him off and drove away.

When I saw the sun start to set, for the first time in two years, I wasn't rushing to find a church. _But I _do_ need somewhere to sleep_. Not another holy place. I wanted to at least spend my first night without worrying about changing in another church, with the sterility and cold distance. And I couldn't find an empty warehouse, nor did I have any money to drink away at a bar. I sighed in relief as I found a cemetery.

I pulled into it and set my jacket down on a stone bench. I learned from experience that they could be surprisingly comfortable. I strode to the cross in the center of the graveyard. The bleeding body of Jesus hung from it, his mournful eyes cast to heaven. I knelt before it in prayer, as was my custom when I slept in a cemetery.

Clasping my hands and bowing my head, I began. "I know You exist. I've seen too much of Hell to not believe in Heaven. The priests always say that You never turn Your back on Your children, but I'm not sure if I believe them, and I don't expect You to listen, giving all the shit I've done in my life. But, I want you to know I'm sorry. I'm sorry for killing all those people. I know that they've all done wrong, but all souls deserve a chance at Paradise, a chance I took away from them. I'm sorry for the way I've lived my life. I could blame my mother, but what she was is no excuse for how I chose to follow her footsteps and her influence. I also… want to pray for my father's soul. Both Zarathos and Johnny; for both were wronged by the Trickster. I know my human father sold his soul, but it was for a selfless purpose and I hope that one day he can get it back. I also hope against hope that Zarathos can regain his rightful place in Heaven, guarding over us, Your wayward children. I'm not exactly a believer, but I'm told You love us anyway. Also… I pray for myself, that the Hell I live will come to an end, whether You choose to lift my curse, or kill me, but I can't continue living like this. I know things happen for a reason, and You have a plan, but just… please, give me a sign. Something that says there's a reason for this suffering and I'm not a pawn in some twisted chess game, and You have a purpose for me. Amen."

I walked to the stone bench and drifted off to sleep. For once, the nightmares didn't come.

**A/N: Yes, I'm kind of religious. No, I'm not going to shove my faith down your throat. This prayer from Cassie is more of saying something she doesn't want to admit to thinking or believing. No, this will not turn into a faith-centered story, but I think that the daughter of a fallen angel who spent the past two years in numerous churches would spare her time for the occasional prayer.**

**Please review!**


	14. Trials and Missing Limbs

**A/N: Hello, all! Been kind of a while since I updated, but I've been working on an idea for 'Son of Satan's Demise' (if you haven't, check it out. It's my most popular story)**

The next morning, before the sun had a chance to rise, I woke up to see a car at the entrance to the cemetery. I dismissed it. _Probably someone visiting their loved one,_ I figured. After all, it _was _a graveyard, even though I wished the place had a crypt I could sleep in. I didn't, however, expect the person visiting to be Ron. I hid behind the nearest tree to put on my boots and jacket without him seeing, but he found me just as I was doing the latter.

"Care to tell me what you're doing here?" I asked him carefully, hand inching towards the knife.

"I was actually going to ask you the same thing. There's a soft bed, good food, and kind of cool people a thirty minutes' drive from here. Here, on the other hand, the coolest person here is probably that stone angel." He pointed to the aforementioned statue. "Seriously, come back. Jenna's been asking where her sensei is nonstop, and I'm not sure how much longer Drake and Meiko can put up with it. Not to mention how _boring_ the place is without a threat to us all hanging over our heads."

"Fine. You want to bring me back. Then how did you find me?"

He shrugged and tapped his nose. "Just followed the stench. You didn't seriously _sleep _here last night, did you?" Ron looked about the place critically.

I set the bag back on the bike. "So what if I did? And you're not going to stop until I agree to go back with you, are ya?"

He shook his head. "Not a chance. Also, Astarte got better over the night, so I'm guessing there's going to be a trial soon. And now that the Vatican knows you exist, the next time you…" he gestured wildly around his head, "They'll know, and lights out for good."

The guy _did_ make a good argument, though. "Alright. I'll go back with you."

When we got back to the dorm, everyone was in a pretty shitty mood. I pulled Megumi aside. "Cassandra! I thought you left!"

"Fear boy over here convinced me to come back. Anyway, what's got your collective panties in a twist?"

She swallowed. "Astarte's having her trial soon. You just missed the exorcist who came to tell us. We only have a few minutes to get ready, but I can see you already have that bit sorted out."

A few minutes later, the older class of exorcists locked the dorm. Samael found me. "I see you couldn't keep away."

"Fuck off, asshole. If you piss me off, I have a flask full of holy water and I ain't afraid to use it."

He clicked his tongue, _tsk_ing. "Such ugly language from such a pretty girl. Didn't your mother teach you better?" His smile was ruthless now. _Of course he knew about that_.

"What's going on?" Hikaru asked, looking from Samael to Amaimon. The two of them glanced at each other before Samael began to explain.

"Astarte was only allowed to return to Assiah under two conditions. One was that she would train others how to control their powers and familiars. The other was that she would maintain control of her own abilities so that another dawn of the purple flames could never occur."

Amaimon wrinkled his nose at me. "You reek of holy ground."

"That tends to happen."

"But, she hasn't broken any of the conditions." Ame said, deep in thought.

"The fact that her flames were unleashed, even briefly is enough to convince the Grigori and the Vatican that she can't maintain control." Samael continued. "Which means they have only one option in their eyes."

_They're gonna kill her… _I realized.

"She has to be exorcised in order to keep Assiah safe. Effectively...They've sentenced her to death." The more delicate girls gasped while I just shook my head. I knew the blood of innocents stained her soul, but usually the Vatican's exorcisms were really harsh from what I've heard.

Noel cried, "But...that's not fair! It's not her fault." The kid was pretty naïve to believe that life could be fair. If it was, I would have some form of control.

Yukio stepped forward to try to explain it better to them. "The Vatican wants to protect the residents of Assiah. The dawn of the purple flames was a horrific tragedy that we can't have repeated. If Astarte can't maintain control of her flames, then we have to remove the threat in order to protect humanity."

Beside me, Drake said, "I'm still not sure that's the better choice."

"For the Vatican, the ends justify the means. She's a demon; she means nothing to them. We're only different because we're half-human."

Samael pulled out a key and opened the door to the Vatican. I'm not sure what I should've expected, but the place was huge and ornately decorated. I've never seen so many exorcists in one place before, either. Some were familiar, like the kindly old man who took me in for the night after I left Moreau's church, but most strangers. I searched the crowd for Moreau, and I finally caught sight of him, but his eyes were set stoically forward, obviously not seeing me. A purpling mark formed over the eye I could see, and a couple of small scars had formed, as well. _Gentle persuasion, my ass_. I looked forward to see what had grabbed his attention.

Astarte was chained to the floor and it obviously took all she could to kneel. Her head was forced in a bowed position, a collar and chain around her neck. Ancient symbols glowed in a circle around her that seemed older than the Earth itself. She glanced back briefly to see them and forced a small, sad smile before the chain around her neck was pulled and she was forced to face forward again. I hated seeing her like this. I wasn't exactly her number one fan, but she was being put on display like an animal, and it was cruel, even for them.

"Demoness Astarte, queen of Gehenna and angel of Satan, do you know why this trial has been set?" She merely nodded, not meeting their eyes. The one who spoke looked at the Paladin, who snapped his fingers. A series of shocks went through her until she lifted her head, glaring at them.

"These sick fucks…" I muttered, just about ready to move to the center of the room and give him a beating.

Amaimon grabbed my shoulder. "I understand you have your father's anger, but intrude on the trial and you'll only make things worse."

"You are charged as a threat to the residents of Assiah. We find you guilty of the charge. Your lack of control with regards to your abilities and your unstable mentality and emotions make you too big of a risk to have here in Assiah. We had planned to exorcise you but our sources suggest that without a ruler, Gehenna will destroy this realm due to a lack of control and authority. So, we will send you back to Gehenna another way." _What? _Amaimon had said she'd be sentenced to death, not whatever they were talking about.

The Paladin cleared his throat. "You will be locked in a room with a nightmare under our control. It will force you to see the things that scare you the most, breaking you." I know that the Vatican was harsh, but I never thought they'd be this needlessly cruel. Shadows began to move towards her, the same kind that held me back in the nightmare/memory of my father selling his soul.

"Wait!" Noel cried, running forward and urging us to go with her. Everyone stared at us as we stood near Astarte.

"You said she could stay if she trained us right?" Ron called to those on the podium.

"Along with the condition that she kept herself under control as well." The Paladin growled. "She has not kept under control so she broke the condition."

"She never attacked anyone though!" Takao growled. "The Princess kept her flames under just enough control to stop them from attacking someone." Sachi nodded furiously.

"The fact they appeared when it was unnecessary is evidence of a lack of control." The Paladin snapped at them, disgust for us written all over. Astarte stared at us in disbelief.

"She was wound up by someone else which is why they responded." Leon said. "She was put under stress and someone kept hitting her buttons making her react. She only did what anyone would do in a similar situation and respond."

"Besides, she's actually been helping us gain more control." Ame said. "Watch. Um, Astarte, could you summon some of those damned souls for us?" Astarte tilted her head to one side but still summoned the souls. Everyone moved to a soul, but those things were putting my senses into overdrive. _Heretic. Murderer. Suicide. Flattery. Traitor. _

I moved forward to demonstrate on them as well, but again, Amaimon held me back. "It would be far from wise for you to change here. Your father took many lives, and you may be the one receiving his punishment."

Everyone else, however, was showing amazing control, and as a whole, it looked like a dance, almost. The Paladin, though caught sight of how I wasn't doing anything and pointed it out to everyone. "What about this one then?" He asked, pointing at me. _Dammit, _I thought as I felt hundreds, almost a thousand, pairs of eyes on me. Whispers filled the room. I could only pick a few out.

Samael stepped forward. "She is the kin of the demon Zarathos." A hush ran over the crowd, and now some of their eyes held fear. "Her other side sees the sins of all and punishes them. Due to this, we cannot let her access that other side until we have a way of securing it so then it can be trained without harming others. But we have made some progress with the pendant. It holds back the demon side and helps the child stay in slightly more control by stopping the demon form from having any access to her mind and heart unless she wills it." _The child? I am a legal adult, you know,_ I almost said.

"You created that pendant yourself Sir Pheles?" The Grigori asked, looking at me distrustfully, not that I blamed him

"Actually, Astarte made it. She took a crystal from one of the coves hidden within the land of the chimeras back in Gehenna and placed some of her own magic into it. Her spell and the demon rune carved into it using the claws of the famed feathered serpent demon Quetzalcoatl or Teufel as he is now known, act in unison to force the other side back and keep it back." Samael said. Everyone stared at the pendant that sat around my neck, which I played with nervously. "Even in the presence of Samael, the demon will not break free," he added.

Astarte turned to us, despite the chains that were holding her back. "Why are you doing this? After everything that's happened?" She asked them quietly.

"Because you're our teacher, the only one who is willing to teach us control, princess." Takao said. We nodded in agreement.

"But...what about what happened yesterday?" She asked, confused by the entire situation.

"Yeah, you lied to us, but everyone lies at some point. Sometimes, we lie to protect those we care about." Ron said. _Speak for yourself on that one. _I still didn't trust her, with how many she's killed. Her soul's been stained with the blood of the innocent.

"May we speak with the Outcast?" The Grigori suddenly said, startling everyone. Gasps emerged from those gathered. Whatever fear they held for me, or rather, my other side, they held for the 'Outcast' at least tenfold.

She nodded and closed her eyes, muttering in a strange language. Her left wing changed from its usual demonic form to an angel wing with purple and black feathers. A purple blindfold appeared over her left eye. A second demon tail appeared but was white with a purple tuft. She opened her right eye and revealed that the whites of that eye were replaced with black.

_"Well, I don't know if I should be impressed that you sought my opinion with this matter or suspicious as to why you sought to contact me." __I don't know why, but the raspy-voiced being possessing Astarte seemed… wrong. She was far too old to be in her body._The Outcast said before glancing at the class who looked at her in shock. _Oh yes, most of you do not know about me nor the others. Well, I'm sure the young one will tell you when she regains control. _

"Young one?" Meiko murmured. Amaimon quickly responded to her unanswered question.

"The Outcast refers to Astarte as the "young one" because of how old the Outcast actually is." Amaimon explained. The I glanced at Drake before the Outcast explained.

_"You see, little ones, I am the creator of the universe and the three realms as well as their residents. If not for me, none of you would exist today. But the humans' so called "God" realized that as long as I was in control, nothing could take my place. In the end, he forced the realms to rise up against me and cast me out of the realms without a form. I was stuck there for many millennia until the young one was born. She enabled me to exist within the realms." _The Outcast turned to the Grigori who glanced at one another.

"Outcast, do you believe the demoness Astarte is in control of her flames?" They asked her.

_"Whilst not in full control, she is far better control than one would expect for one of her age. She is gaining the last few pieces of control with my help. I am giving her the power to set up her barriers and limitations. So, to answer simply, yes." _The Outcast said. The Grigori glanced at one another before making a decision.

"Will you ensure she remains in control of her flames if we let her go?" They asked, ignoring the cries of outrage from those gathered around them.

_"I will." _The Outcast replied with a nod.

"Then you may return to your slumber and we will release her." The Outcast nodded again before Astarte returned to her usual form and the chains released. "Demoness Astarte, you will be given one final chance. Break it again and you will be exorcised. Understand?" Astarte nodded rapidly. The Grigori disbanded the meeting and sent her away. As soon as she was out of the room, she tackled both Samael and Amaimon, her body shaking as they held her.

My own body was shaking. With all those damned souls, I was close to changing. _So close_. I could literally feel my skin heating up with their presence.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and white noise. Blessed, blessed silence. I exhaled shakily. _Drake,_ I thought in relief. "You okay?"

_No._ "Yeah, Mom. I'm fine. Seriously, what was with them all staring? Didn't their parents teach them any manners?" I smiled slightly, trying to lighten up.

Astarte stood and turned to the class. "I, once again, have you lot to thank. If not for you, I would not be standing here right now. So... Arigato gozaimasu." She said, bowing to us.

Drake took this opportune moment to be… Drake. "So...do we get another day off?"

Astarte grinned, and for a split second, I thought we'd actually get the day off, until she pulled out her sword and decided to be… Astarte and chopped the arm that wasn't reassuringly holding my hand off. "No! We are now training for as long as we can each day! You will be trained to your full potential with your powers." She summoned Baphomet who appeared in a slightly smaller form to fit in the building and began to herd them out. "Let's go! Your training starts again tomorrow! Come on! Hayaku! Hayaku!"

"She's gonna make me start Changing, isn't she?" I half-asked to myself.

Beside me, Drake shrugged. "Who knows? It's Astarte. You know how she gets."

And appearing between us, Jenna hugged us both from behind. "Whatever happens, it's gonna be interesting, though!" she then enveloped me in a bear hug that deprived me off all my breath.

"Jenna? Air?" I managed before she let go, kind of sheepish.

**A/N: That's it for this time! Please review!**


	15. Long Forgotten Instinct

**A/N: Sorry for the late update. My parents have been hell-bent on keeping me away from home, and the computer I've been writing this on. I only own Cassie.**

The sun started to rise, and me along with it, (old habits die hard) as I got up and ready for the day, with my ritual of sleeping in my clothes, sans my boots and jacket, when about a bucket of water dropped on my head. _Well, now that my shower's been taken care of,_ I thought sarcastically and screams resounded on both the girls' and boys' sides of the dorms. We all came out to see what did that and I was unsurprised to see the dragon that had forcibly changed me back when I first terrorized the class rolling around in what seemed to be a fit of laughter.

Megumi, whose room was beside mine, seemed to be in the worst mood of all, forming a blade and leading a chase through the campus, undoubtedly freaking some perfectionist early risers out as most of them cursed at the demon. I wasn't really complaining because I was up, and it was really refreshing. The path that the dragon, I think its name was Mizu, was leading us to was leading us to was becoming increasingly familiar. I sighed in slight laughter as I realized that the thing had led us to the training area. I was somewhat amused to see a patch of scorched grass where I had passed out that first day.

"Ah, finally. You lot certainly took your time. Are you ready for training?" Astarte asked them as Mizu coiled around her shoulders and stuck its tongue out at us. _That smug little dragon.._. We all glared at the dragon. "Now, I realised that actually, you lot know very little about demons. So, rather than train out here, I'm going to educate you a little about demon origin." _Yes. Fat lot of use it's going to do me, _I thought sarcastically.

"Why?" We all asked.

"Simple. Without this knowledge of your past, how can you ever hope to improve your skills?" She asked rhetorically. "Now, come on. Aniue said we can use one of the classrooms in the cram school for these lessons."

"I know about my past. Asshole demon gets greedy and wants a new pet. So he decides to take the Angel of Justice and turns him into a demon," I muttered under my breath, but Samael obviously heard me, judging by the quick glare he shot my way.

When we got to the classroom, a few kids at the cram school decided to be a bunch of smartasses, standing in front of me, Drake, and the always-present Jenna. "Oh, look boys. We've got a sideshow on our hands," the ringleader said with a grin.

I looked him in the eyes, getting a reading. "Oh shut up. We both know you're trying to impress miss Easy Lay over there," I gestured to the girl in the front of the room who wore as few clothes as required by the uniform, "Because you don't want to spend the rest of your life jacking off to ninety cent centerfolds. So why don't you just fuck off and pull her into the janitor's closet or something." The boy promptly turned red and stormed off, lackeys behind him.

I looked behind me to see a tomato-colored Drake and a giggling Jenna. "H-How did you know that?" he asked.

I tapped my temple. "I just know these things,"

In the classroom, Astarte stood behind the teacher's desk while we all took seats at the desks. The door opened to reveal a white dog with a green hamster on its back. _Great. Just great, _I thought angrily taking a seat in the back. She watched as the two animals headed over to the desk and hopped onto it before watching her. She watched them briefly before turning to the class.

"So what are you meant to be teaching us?" Ron asked from his spot at the back next to Drake. Astarte smirked and walked around to the front of the desk.

"Tell me, what do you lot know about the nine circles of Hell and their significance?" She asked. _This was too easy. Come on. Anyone? _I thought desperately when I saw the awkward silence falling over the room. _I can't be the only one who knows this. I don't want to be that kid!_ I sighed in embarrassment as I realized nobody else knew the answer. "Anyone?" She paused when I raised my hand reluctantly. "Yes Cassandra."

I began kind of quietly. "The nine circles of Hell each represent a different sin and are ruled by one of the eight Baal and then Satan himself." Kids started staring, and I felt my face turn pink. "The first level is Limbo and is ruled by Beelzebub, then there's Lust which is ruled by Amaimon, next is Gluttony which is ruled by Agramon." I started counting off with my fingers. "The fourth circle is Greed and ruled by Azazel, then there's the fifth which is Anger and Belial is in charge of, then the sixth is Violence which Iblis rules over. Seventh is Heresy, ruled by Samael, eighth is fraud ruled by Egyn and the last circle is the circle of betrayal, ruled by Satan." I heard a few whispers as I slumped deeper in my seat, trying to avoid detection.

Astarte nodded before turning to the chalkboard behind her and drawing a large diagram on it of circles inside each other, the name of the sin and the name of the king of each circle written in each circle. "Gehenna is ruled by a hierarchy based on power, this I'm sure you already know. At the top is Satan, and then there's me and finally the eight Baal." She said.

"Wait, if there's ten rulers, why are there only nine circles?" Autumn asked. Astarte didn't even turn to look at her; she kept on with the lesson as she answered distractedly.

"The way it works is that I am seen as the angel of Satan so technically, whilst I rule over all of Gehenna, I do not rule a circle of my own. I merely sit upon the throne beside my father as he rules over the circle of betrayal." She paused before continuing. "Can anyone tell me the significance of the nine?" She asked. Not even I knew that one. "When Satan fell from Heaven, he and his followers fell for nine days and nine nights. The nine circles is a twisted reminder of that fact." She paused momentarily before shaking her head and continuing. In all honesty, after all the stuff I read, I should've seen that coincidence.

"Now, my original plan was to have you lot learn the same way I learned. By having you make notes out of this." She clicked her fingers and the biggest freaking book I had ever laid eyes on landed on her desk with a _thud_, and I almost thought that the desk would give from the sudden weight of the monster. "And then reading through a tome like this for homework every day." She clicked her fingers once again and a second, slightly smaller book compared to the first appeared and landed on the desk next to the first. _Every day?! You gotta be shitting me. _"And that's the smallest tome of them all." I looked at the literary monstrosity in horror. "However, I realised that it may have been a bit harsh to do that to you so instead, I will teach you from my own knowledge." She turned back to the board, clicking her fingers so that the books, if you could call them that, vanished into thin air and I thought that the sudden disappearance of weight would cause the desk to start floating, though it was impossible. _Please, _I scolded myself, _you turn into a soul-sucking monster when the sun goes down. How is a desk floating that unlikely?_

"Now, let's start with what happens when a soul is damned. It first arrives in Limbo where a soul falls burning to the shores of the river that leads the soul to where it will be judged. The souls are then herded onto the boat of Charon. He carries the souls across the river to where they will receive their judgement. A spiked wheel sits beneath the limbs of he who judges the damned. He reads your sins and decides which circle you will be forever damned to. To send you there, he impales the soul a spike of the wheel and then spins it." In _the Inferno, _Minos only wrapped his tail around his torso the same number of times as the circle the person was sentenced to. Frankly, I liked the latter of the versions better. I've known I've been damned for a while, but it was always chilling to hear about it.

"Then we come onto the circle of Lust..."she started to continue when I heard something… like the bald eagles in Maryland, only on a much larger scale. Everybody else evidently heard it, too. And I suddenly got the urge to kneel, to bow down and kiss the feet of the beings who I sensed now. It wasn't just white noise that came from them. It was _purity, righteousness, _and all-around _holiness_. Beams of light shone through the doorway.

"Am I disturbing your lesson here demon queen?" The holy being asked, for it obviously was no human or demon. Astarte, whilst shielding her eyes with her arm, snarled at him. "Oh come now, is that anyway to talk to a member of family?"

I froze, head bowed, eyes not meeting theirs. Some part of me, some forgotten instinct kept urging me to be as respectful as possible. "Family?" I barely was able to whisper.

The light faded slightly, and I saw white skin and white robes, with a holy light surrounding them. Usually the other side was begging to get out of the necklace, but now it was hiding in the darkest recesses of my mind.

"I'm your cousin, Michelangelo, Queen Astarte. Your mother, the blind angel was my aunt." He said. "My father is your uncle." She tilted her head to one side before glancing at us then back at him.

"And who is my uncle?"

"That would be me, Demon Queen Astarte." A second male voice said. Another man, slightly taller than Michelangelo and who seemed to give of an even brighter glow stepped forward. The class murmured to one another, trying to see if anyone knew who this stranger was.

Any hope of suppressing that instinct now was gone as it told me who he was. I instantly dropped to my knees in submission, bowing my head, knowing I wasn't worthy to look him in the eye.

"The most loyal servant of God. The one so eager to ensure God is pleased. The Archangel and most well known of those in heaven. Gabriel." I suddenly started to pray mentally. I didn't know why, but the latent instinct let nothing out of its grip. He stepped forward.

"How have you been, my foul and unholy niece?"

**A/N: Please review!**


	16. Another lie Shocker

**A/N: Sorry for the late update! Life's been hectic. I just got back from vacation in Florida and I'm gonna be visiting my boyfriend during the Gettysburg reenactment soon.**

I was terrified of the being before me. Although it made the other side hide, I felt Gabriel's eyes on me, staring straight through my soul. And in that instant, I saw everything he saw.

_I was eleven, angry and confused from my last breakup. May wasn't at the bar, and there was a bottle of whiskey sitting on the counter. I knew my mom used it to calm herself down a lot, and really hoped it did the same for me. Being quiet as possible, I snuck out onto the bar and took the bottle. The liquid stung as it went down, but I soon felt my head swimming warmly._

_I was thirteen and a half now (in an attempt to make myself sound more like a teenager and less like a kid) and life had hardly gotten easier. In fact, it got far, far worse. My face and stomach stung from where my mom hit me when she caught me sneaking her liquor. "At least buy your own goddamned booze, you worthless little bitch," she growled at me. "You can sleep on the streets tonight and remember how lucky you are that you're not there." So there I was. I saw a teenager, about seventeen or eighteen, skinny and grinning, with red-tinted eyes. "You look like you could use a hand. I know a great pick-me-up." He grinned wider, if possible. "You ever hear of marijuana?"_

_From there on, it was a fast and dark descent. What I started using got more and more serious, until I was dabbling in meth and heroin. And that 'dabbling' turned into full-on using._

"So, tell me, my foul niece, why are you doing this?" I felt his eyes leave me and the memories crumbled away, returning to the back of my head where they belonged.

"I'm training this lot to help them learn control. Once they establish control, they can seize control of their lives and make their own choices." _Fat chance, _I muttered internally. I knew that I could never go back to being any approximation of normal. The best Astarte could hope for would probably be for the other side to not drive me insane."

No. I mean, why do you keep acting like a demon when you're not?" He said. I heard assorted mutterings from the kids around me. "You are the child of an angel, why do you continue to hide in the shadows?"

"I am the daughter of Satan. I am queen of the demons. I am not pretending to be a demon or hiding in the shadows." I saw Michaelangelo move forward, but get held back.

"Little one, there is so much potential within you. You are the daughter of Evening's Dawn. There is a place for you in Paradise. All you need do is accept that you are an angel." _Unlike me._ _I'll never have that place._ I looked up and glared at Samael.

He waved his hand over her and I couldn't help but look up. The angel was pale with dark purple hair. But there wasn't a tail, her wings were feathered black and purple, and there was a purple blindfold over her eyes. Gabriel smiled, and I noticed that her normal form had started looking more demonic."Sweet, compassionate Evening's Dawn. There's so much awaiting for you back in Paradise. Our lord is willing to welcome you back. Forget the spawn of the fallen one and return home, sweet sister."

_I wish I could Gabriel, but I belong with my daughter. She is the child of the Evening's Dawn and the Morning Star. And if she wishes, she will go to Paradise when she wants. But I will not leave her. _As if she was proving her point, she disappeared.Fuck your daughter, I thought. _You have a chance to go to Heaven and you're not taking it? What did she ever do for you? _

"You heard my mother. She's not leaving. So fuck off." I wanted to slap her for being so disrespectful to an archangel. To God's messenger. It was like spitting in Michael's eye.

"Fine, I will leave you to rot in the shadows. But I hope you will soon see sense Evening's Dawn." He turned and began to walk towards the door. He paused just when he reached it. "By the way, I do like those flecks of blue and gold in your left eye Astarte. They remind me so much of your father's eyes."

Another memory came again, this time ancient and not my own. _Lucifer, the most beautiful of the angels, with blue eyes flecked with gold. _It disappeared just as quickly. All I had the chance to see were the eyes. _Shit._

After the angels had left, I stood up, blushing. I can't believe I actually _knelt_ to someone. I heard pained hisses from many of the class, but I don't know what they were feeling. The light had a calming affect. I looked around. On me, at least.

"How long?" Samael suddenly said. She looked at him but quickly turned away. "How long as he been watching through your eyes?" He demanded. _That's what I saw. Satan's been watching us._

Astarte sighed. "Since the trial. He contacted me, wanting me to inform him of how training was going. Then he decided he wanted to see for himself, so I said he could use my eye." Samael then grabbed her arm, and I grinned slightly. _So your husband isn't as perfect as he seems in your eyes._

"Why?! Your form could burn! Why are you letting him do this?! Don't you realize what you've done?!" He demanded. She growled and wrenched her arm from his grip.

"I am not possessed! He is watching through my eyes and that alone! He would never possess me!" I chuckled slightly now. So even demons could have lovers' quarrels.

"What are you talking about?!" Katio said from the back of the room. "Who's watching us?!"

"She's allowing Satan to watch us through her eyes. Her left eye is being used by Satan to watch us all." I wasn't surprised. Another lie from Astarte. Astarte kept her head down. "Show them." Samael snapped. She shook her head. "Show them!"

She lifted up her head and opened her left eye. My breath caught in my throat. It was still purple, but inside it were flecks of sapphire mixed with gold. I started panicking, though the other side was yelling at me to keep it together. _Don't you know who your goddamned father is?! He helped knock this bastard from heaven! You may be a pathetic weakling, but you shouldn't be cowering from him._

"So...he can see us now?" Yuki murmured. Astarte nodded.

"If he wants, I could also let him speak to you." She paused before sighing. "And he wants to." She closed her eyes before opening them again, a blue flame appearing on her left one.

_Well, if it isn't the class of misfits? Why am I not fucking surprised that you're all scared shitless of me? _This voice was wrong for her. It was like the Outcast. Too old. Ancient, even. It cackled before continuing. _Now, as you can know doubt tell, I'm using my beautiful daughter's eyes to watch you little fuckers and see how your training is going. If it goes well, you little bastards are going to be of great use to me. So, I'll be keeping a close fucking eye on you. _Not if I don't haul ass first, I thought. I tend to do that kind of thing.

Astarte closed her eyes and opened them again, the blue flame gone and her eyes returning to some form of normality. "I think now would be a good time to end this lesson. We will continue tomorrow." She said. We all silently stood and left. I was fighting the trembles that racked my body like an earthquake as I left. I felt something hot against my chest and looked down. The amulet was glowing slightly.

"Do you know what the hell that was?" Asked Drake, appearing beside me.

I shook my head. "No. But if that bitch intends on using us as her fucking little toy army, I know I'm not gonna be sticking around. I got out the small orange bottle that held my pain pills. My bones were on fire. Swallowing five or six, I saw Drake staring at me. "What? This is hardly the worst I've done."

**A/N: Thanks for reading, and as always, shoot a review or give me a Sue alert if she needs it before it's too late!**


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